Team WLB does Stuff?
by Bad Rolls
Summary: Creepy guy leads two idiots to take over the American tournaments and gets all of them involved in some really deep stuff. That's really it. / First fanfic / All OCs for now / Cardfight! Vanguard Fanfic / Now rated T
1. I'm not turning into a ?

**So, yeah… First fanfic. First piece of literature I've shared to a community. This will be fun.**

 **The story takes place sometime after Stride Gate. I couldn't find an official date for when that happened so I'm gonna make a guesstimate here and say that was 9 months ago. Anyways, point is: This follows the CFV continuity up till then and should probably be able to ignore Next. I dunno, I still need to finish that season (Why am I making fanfics about this when I haven't even finish it? Ah well, if it becomes a problem, I'll just say Next never happened, but to be fair, this is in the US, and Next is in Japan. Should be able to work. Besides, if I really wanted to, I could just retcon this and make it work with Next. Either way, it seems I'll be doing a small bingewatching session after I introduce Francisco in the next chapter).**

 **I'll go more in depth about these things at the notes on the bottom, but for now, only other thing I have to say is that these characters are all OCs and they will not be using fanmade clans and cards for now. I may bring in some minor characters from the anime, and maybe Aichi and Rati since they're in the US, but that'll be it. Later on, I may make a fanmade card for some characters cause plot.**

* * *

Cardfight! Vanguard…

Many claim it to be the game that took the world by storm. Those people usually all live in Asia or Europe. While there is a major Cardfight tournament here in the United States known as the United States Royale, or simply the Royale, but it was no more competitive than some sections of the Asia Circuit and the players were definitely quite far from being Euro League level. The Vanguard Association only had a building in some cities for most states, and some states, usually the heavily conservative ones like Utah, had none of these buildings. Not to mention the market for it in rural towns was small, and usually to the point of non-existence. But even still, Farmer's Games and Cards tried as hard as it can, it's owner, Leonard Farmer, convinced that he could bring Vanguard to his small town of Angel Peak, Oregon, and today was his lucky break.

Behind Leonard, framed so it could stand on a pedestal, was a ticket to the Pacific Coast Cardfight Tournament, the regional tournament for teams in Washington, Oregon and California who wish to earn the spot as players in the Royale. After petitioning the Association so many times despite Leonard not being able to set up quests in Angel Peak, he finally received one to give out to the winning team of his local shop tournament. He hoped that the buzz this would cause would help promote the game and he was right. Before Leonard's very eyes was the largest crowd Farmer's has ever attracted for a Vanguard tournament. With only five minutes left before the first round and before the sign ups were over, the tension and excitement in the air left a smile on Leonard's face, a feeling of joy he felt like he had forgotten since he left his family's card shop in Portland to make his own.

The excitement almost caused him not to notice the team of three that had just arrived. All three were males, not one of them could've been more than seventeen years old. One had this overly excited aura to him, an aura that was so excessive that it was kind of creepy. He had blue eyes and blond hair cut short on the sides and back and was allowed to grow out a little on the top, and he was dressed very awkwardly, with jeans and a white shirt with a plaid coat. The second looked so moody that it was actually quite annoying and Leonard had to stop this sudden impulse to punch him. After all, this one had visited this shop about five times in the past three weeks. Like his companion, he had blue eyes, but he had black hair that he cut short all around, and dressed simply: Jeans and a dark blue polo shirt. The third was actually one of Leonard's regulars, a man named Francisco. He was latino, and had multiple facial piercings and tattoos on his torso and arms, including a large one on his left shoulder of a skull with vines all over it that had roses growing from it. His dark brown eyes somehow matched his hair that was dyed black with green at the tips of multiple points. Not that there was much point in dying his hair, as he wore a ball cap backwards that hid most of his hair, along with black shorts and a black shirt that was sleeveless with holes that went from the arm holes to the bottom of the shirt.

"Hey there. Got a team for the tournament, Francis?"

"Yeah man. We in time?"

"Calling it a little close, but yeah, you can still sign up. Give me twenty-five for the entry fee and your team's name as well the names of the members and you'll be good to go."

In response to this, the creepy one steps up and puts down two tens and a five.

"Team WLB. Kyle Reeves, Skylar Kaminski and Francisco Abrantes."

"WLB? Okay, you're in. What does that mean, by the way? Team Winning Limit Breakers?"

"No," the moody guy replies. "It means Team We Lost a Bet."

* * *

 **Alright bros, we gonna go back two weeks**

 **Nothing wrong, just telling ya the stuff before this**

 **-Francisco (Who cries because he's no longer in this chapter now)**

 **\- The Eurydice Arc Begins -**

"Tap 5."

 _Boring._

"Woah woah, what the hell is that?"

"4/4 Haste Flying. When it attacks, I can exert it to deal 4 to any non-dragon you control."

"Wait, what!? But you already got that guy that allows you to attack again!?"

 _Boring._

"Well, dang. I got nothing. Good game."

 _If this were_ that _game, you could've tried shooting for a heal trigger._ _But now you're stuck._

"God dang, Kyle! You sure you don't play in the Grand Prix? You just got here last week and you kicked all of us to the curb," one of the spectators said, chewing on one of the pizzas the lunch ladies gave the students for lunch time. It seemed to add some color to the current environment: A rather large high school with multiple buildings with the walls in all of them being painted a bland, pure white.

"Thank you, but nah. I'm just a cut above average," Kyle replies as he got up to shake his opponent's hand. She smiles awkwardly at him. He was somewhat attractive, with his blue eyes and blonde hair cut around the sides and back and was allowed to grow at the top. Even then, there was something about him that was off, but it was hard to tell what, not to mention his sense of fashion was kinda… terrible. And from the smell of it, he wore Axe deodorant, and not the rare good kind of it, either. And there was this subtle feeling that he was disappointed about everything and everyone around him.

To her credit though, she was right. Kyle had just come here from New York City, where his favorite card game could be found. He tried other ones, both ones that were in person and online, but nothing could match the euphoria that one game inspired in him. But when he moved here, to this back alley town of Angel Peak only days before the school year started, he could only find two card shops, and not one of them sold that game. So, he spent his first week of the school year playing games that were in his mind just bland and boring, and soon he would've spent the second week doing just the same. He hated it, but there was nothing he could do about it.

However, that didn't mean there wasn't anything someone else could do about it.

"Hey, your name's Kyle, right?"

Kyle turns around in surprise to look at the speaker. He recognized him as a person named Skylar, another boy in Kyle's grade new to Angel Peak, which was pretty surprising as most people don't come _into_ this town. Skylar was a moody kid, and effectively caught the attention of everyone in high school as being some kind of emo loner boy that refused to talk to anyone. To be fair though, if it wasn't for his attitude, he could've actually been well received in this community: His body was well built and taken care of, and his body posture was amazing. Even more astonishingly, Kyle couldn't find a single pimple or some other kind of blemish on Skylar's somewhat tanned skin. His clothing was simple yet somehow pleasant looking, being nothing but jeans and a white polo with two blue lines running across it, which worked with his short black hair and blue eyes quite well.

"Yeah, my name's Kyle. And yours is Skylar?"

"Mm-hmm."

"Did you need anything, Skylar?" Kyle asks while looking at his card game friends. They were too busy laughing about some kind of joke to notice this conversation.

"I heard you were good at card games and was wondering if you played a certain game I liked. I can find a community for it, but I couldn't find another player in our grade."

"I might. What's the name?"

"Cardfight! Vanguard," Skylar says, holding out a deck to show Kyle.

All of a sudden, a certain light was lit in Kyle's eyes. And not in a positive way. Whatever side of Kyle's personality that was somewhat ordinary was completely overpowered by this absolutely haunting smile and a manic look in his eyes. It sent shivers down Skylar's spine, and caused him to wonder if he made a mistake.

"Yeah... Yeah, I play that one. I even have a FICA and a deck with me right now. Would you like to move somewhere a little more private for a game?"

Skylar awkwardly chuckles. He didn't need to answer, Kyle wasn't gonna let him go without one. This much was clear.

* * *

The place that Kyle and Skylar, having slipped away from Kyle's friends without their notice, decided to play at was a small outdoor alcove made between the school's gym and library. Outside of the alcove, the pair could see the wind blowing leaves and such down the concrete paths that help guide students to each of the buildings. Kyle sets up his FICA's table and begins to shuffle his deck. Skylar does the same in reply.

"Stop," Kyle suddenly says.

"What?"

"Is that deck using your original clan?"

"No. Why does that even matter?"

"Hard to explain. All I can say is that I'd appreciate it if you'd use your original clan if you can."

"Well… That sucks. I- I don't have it," Skylar says looking away.

"You're a terrible liar. Come on, it's not like I know what it is. It can't be that bad to play it."

"It's just… It's just that I have some issues with it, alright?"

"Please? I'd do anything that'd help."

Skylar sighs, realizing that Kyle wasn't gonna give up on this.

"Fine. Just don't laugh, okay?"

"That's it? Okay. I won't laugh."

Skylar shoots a glare at Kyle, "Good. Remember that. If you laugh, I'll kill you."

Kyle chuckles lightly. Soon enough, the two have their decks shuffled, and their cards redrawn, as well as choosing Kyle to start this game. They were watching each other as they did all of this. They learned more about a player than one would think: They both shuffled skillfully and quickly, their cards were sleeved with Kyle using red and Skylar using blue, and their decks both had 16 G-units. From all of this, they could tell that neither one would be an easy opponent.

"Ready?" Kyle asks as Skylar nods. "Then, stand up! Baby Camara!

 **Baby Camara / Grade 0 / POW: 5000 / Tachikaze**

"S- Stand up," Skylar says hesitantly and awkwardly, "Sweet-PR ISM, Tytis!"

 **Sweet-PR** **ISM, Tytis / Grade 0 / POW: 5000 / Bermuda Triangle**

 _So, it's Bermuda Triangle_ , Kyle thought to himself. _I can understand why Skylar was so embarrassed to play it. Even still, I'm at a disadvantage here in that I've rarely played BT, and I've only ever heard about the PR_ _ISMs since most players play Lauris. But then again, from his expression, I don't think Skylar's played against a lot of my clan, either._

It was true. Kyle could see the sweat rolling down Skylar's face as he was doing mental calculations in his head, trying to figure out how Kyle was most likely going to attack. Not that it was gonna help Skylar to overthink it: Kyle's strategy was simple. It was only a matter of whether or not Skylar could figure it out.

"Draw! Ride, Cold Dragon, Freezernyx! I call Baby Camara from my soul to my back-left circle. That'll end my turn," Kyle smiles.

 **(Cold Dragon, Freezernyx / Grade 1 / POW: 7000 / Tachikaze)**

"Draw," Skylar replies.

 **2nd turn (Skylar's POV)**

 **Kyle**

 **Hand: 5**

 **Damage: 0**

 **Field:**

 **Back row:** Empty **/** Empty **/ Baby Camara**

 **Front row:** Empty **/ Freezernyx /** Empty

 **Front row:** Empty **/ Tytis /** Empty

 **Back row:** Empty **/** Empty **/** Empty

 **Skylar**

 **Hand 6**

 **Damage: 0**

"Ride! Brand-New-PR ISM, Emeral! I call Tytis to my back-center circle from the soul. Then I call PR ISM-Promise, Princess Leyte to my front-right circle from my hand."

 **(Brand-New-PR** **ISM, Emeral / Grade 1 / POW: 7000 / Bermuda Triangle)**

 **(PR** **ISM-Promise, Princess Leyte / Grade 1 / POW: 7000 / Bermuda Triangle)**

"I'll begin my attacks now, starting with Princess Leyte!"

"..."

"Are you gonna guard or…?" Skylar asks.

"You're not imagining it."

"Huh? Uh, no, you can't mean…"

"I do. Imagine it, this fight."

"But that's just something they tell kids to get them riled up."

"Do. It."

All of a sudden, Skylar found himself in a clearing. All around were exotic plants and trees, and in the distance a volcano was erupting. To his right was Princess Leyte, who had a much darker skin tone, with purple hair and red eyes, all while wearing a wedding dress. Behind him was Tytis, who had white hair and purple eyes, as well as a lot of purple clothes with white fluffy balls on them. He wondered how they were on land when they were mermaids, but then he looked down at their tails and saw a platform made up of bubbles under each of them, holding them up. Across from Skylar was a half-mechanical raptor with the eyes of Kyle and two freeze rays on it's back and near it was a tiny little dino with an egg shell helmet and a pair of laser cannons on it's back.

 _Wait a minute, there's something missing here. Where's my… vanguard…?_ Skylar thinks while looking down. The shock was enough to bring him back into reality. His mind was working hard to remove that image from his memory.

"A- Alright. I don't know what that was, but fine! I'll hop in, so long as I do it on my own terms."

"Very well, then." Kyle smiles innocently.

Kyle, in his raptor body, stares down at the opposing vanguard, a mermaid with a green tail, green clothes and even incredibly long green hair that was braided. However, it didn't have Skylar's eyes. Kyle looked to the edge of the field, and saw a ghostly version of Skylar sitting on a rock, looking over the field.

"Uh, Skylar..."

"What now?"

"Your astral body. It's separated from your vanguard."

"I'm _not_ turning into a mermaid pop idol. I have my limits."

"Oh. Okay."

"Anyways, what about Princess Leyte's attack. Gonna guard or not?"

"Uhh, no guard."

 **(Princess Leyte (7000) - Freezernyx (7000))**

Princess Leyte hopped off of her bubble platform and summoned another below her, and again and again at a fast pace until she was close enough to smack Freezernyx with her tail. The dinosaur looked surprise that it got slapped by a mermaid.

"Damage check!"

 **Damage Check: Explosive Dragon, Sarcoblaze**

"Now with a boost from Tytis, my vanguard attacks Freezernyx!"

Emeral charges in a similar manner to Princess Leyte.

 **(Emeral (7000) + Tytis (5000) = 12000)**

"No guard!"

 **(Emeral (12000) - Freezernyx (7000)**

"Drive check!"

 **Drive check: Dreamer Dreamer, Kruk (Stand Trigger)**

"Stand trigger! I give all effects to Princess Leyte."

Princess Leyte gets up after crouching for a bit.

 **(Princess Leyte: 7000 - 12000)**

"Damage check," Kyle replies, flipping over the top card of his deck.

 **Damage check: Prism Bird**

Freezernyx is surprised to have been slapped by a mermaid. Again.

"Princess Leyte attacks your vanguard!"

"No guard!"

 **(Princess Leyte (12000) - Freezernyx (7000)**

Princess Leyte hops high in the air, and slams down on Freezernyx's head with her tail.

 **Damage check: Savage Healer (Heal)**

"Heal trigger! I heal Explosive Dragon, Sarcoblaze and give the power to Freezernyx."

"Not that the power's gonna do much right now," Skylar replies. "End turn."

"Draw," Kyle chuckles awkwardly. If he didn't flip that heal, he'd have started out this turn with 3-0.

 **3rd turn (Kyle's POV)**

 **Skylar**

 **Hand: 5**

 **Damage: 0**

 **Field:**

 **Back row:** Empty **/ Tytis /** Empty

 **Front row: Princess Leyte / Emeral /** Empty

 **Front row:** Empty **/ Freezernyx /** Empty

 **Back row: Baby Camara /** Empty **/** Empty

 **Kyle**

 **Hand: 6**

 **Damage: 2**

 **Prism Bird (U), Savage Healer (U)**

"Ride," Kyle begins, "Explosive Dragon, Sarcoblaze! Then I call to my front-left circle Blade Dragon, Jigsawsaurus! Afterwards, I call Prism Bird to my back-center circle!"

Kyle's vanguard changes from a raptor to a giant, alligator like dinosaur in armor with three cannons and two guns on it's back. Around him spawn an armored dinosaur with blades on it's back and a heavily armored bird. The bird, Prism Bird, begins to emit a form of blue energy.

"Prism Bird's ability," Kyle explains. "I can reveal a grade 3 in my hand and search for a grade 3 with 'Gaia' in its name and add it to my hand. If I add a card this way, I have to discard a card."

Kyle reveals a Frenzy Emperor Dragon, Gaia Desperado from his hand and then searches and pulls out an Emperor Dragon, Gaia Emperor and adds it to his hand after a quick shuffle. Finally, to pay the cost, Kyle discards a Fullfire Elk.

 **(Explosive Dragon, Sarcoblaze / Grade 2 / POW: 9000 / Tachikaze)**

 **(Blade Dragon, Jigsawsaurus / Grade 2 / POW: 9000 / Tachikaze)**

 **(Prism Bird / Grade 1 / POW: 7000 / Tachikaze)**

"Now, with a boost from the Baby Camara, Jigsawsaurus attacks Emeral!"

 **(Jigsawsaurus (9000) + Baby Camara (5000) = 14000)**

The bladed dinosaur charges at the puny little mermaid.

"No guard!"

 **(Jigsawsaurus (14000) - Emeral (7000))**

Jigsawsaurus tackles Emeral, sending her flying backwards.

 **Damage check: Sweet-PR** **ISM, Rupina**

"Now, with a boost from Prism Bird, my vanguard attacks yours!"

 **(Sarcoblaze (9000) + Prism Bird (7000) = 16000)**

"No guard!" Skylar announces

Sarcoblaze lowers its weapons and aims them right at Emeral. The mermaid prepares for the attack as Kyle performs his drive check.

 **Drive check: Prism Bird**

"No trigger," Kyle sighs.

"Damage check!"

Sarcoblaze lets loose its weapons on Emeral as Skylar reveals the top card of his deck.

 **Damage check: PR** **ISM-Image, Sunshine Rosa**

"And that'll be the end of my turn," Kyle declares, clearly relieved he got the game to an even 2-2.

However, Skylar doesn't even look phased as he draws his next card, which he looks and smiles contently at.

 **4th turn (Skylar's POV)**

 **Kyle**

 **Hand: 4**

 **Damage: 2**

 **Prism Bird (U), Savage Healer (U)**

 **Field:**

 **Back row:** Empty **/ Prism Bird / Baby Camara**

 **Front row:** Empty **/ Sarcoblaze / Jigsawsaurus**

 **Front row:** Empty **/ Emeral / Princess Leyte**

 **Back row:** Empty **/ Tytis /** Empty

 **Skylar**

 **Hand: 6**

 **Damage: 2**

 **Rupina (U), Sunshine Rosa (U)**

"Let's begin. Ride! Orient-PR ISM, Ayari! Then I move Princess Leyte back and call another Ayari in front of her! Finally, I'll call a PR ISM-Promise, Princess Celtic to my front-left circle!"

Emeral turns into a mermaid with a blue tail, black hair, green eyes and white blue oriental clothing with a red umbrella to hold as an accessory. Princess Leyte's bubble platform moves back and a copy of the new vanguard appears to the vanguard's right, and a mermaid with green hair and a wedding dress appears to her left

 **(Orient-PR** **ISM, Ayari / Grade 2 / POW: 9000 / Bermuda Triangle)**

 **(PR** **ISM-Promise, Princess Celtic / Grade 2 / POW: 9000 / Bermuda Triangle)**

"My, my, being a little aggressive here, aren't we?" Kyle jests.

"Well, you'd do the same, wouldn't you?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"You do realize that I know 3 of the 4 cards in your hand, and two of those are grade 3s, right?"

Kyle's shocked expression told Skylar all he needed to know.

"Ah well, your mistake," Skylar sighs. "Princess Celtic attacks your vanguard."

"Uh… Uhm… No guard!"

 **(Princess Celtic (9000) - Sarcoblaze (9000)**

Princess Celtic charges at Sarcoblaze, and whacks it with a wedding bouquet. It wouldn't have normally hurt, except there were thorns.

 **Damage check: Savage Healer (Heal)**

"Heal trigger," Kyle shouts and heals Prism Bird from his damage zone. "I'll give the power to Sarcoblaze."

 **(Sarcoblaze: 9000 - 14000)**

"Princess Celtic's ability! Counterblast one and return Princess Leyte to my hand and draw a card!"

"Wait, what!? Without Princess Leyte, your rearguard Ayari won't be able to attack my vanguard without a trigger."

"It's a risk I'm gonna take," Skylar says as he turns over Sunshine Rosa for the price. "Now, Princess Leyte's ability activates! Countercharge and soulcharge!"

He turns over Sunshine Rosa, and then flips the top card of his deck. It was a PR ISM-Miracle, Canary. In other words, a critical trigger. Skylar grimaces a little, and Kyle breathes a sigh of relief. Skylar turns Tytis and the vanguard Ayari on their side.

"With a boost from Tytis, my vanguard attacks Sarcoblaze!"

 **(Ayari (9000) + Tytis (5000) = 14000)**

"No guard."

"Drive check!"

 **Drive check: PR** **ISM-Image, Sunshine Clear (Critical)**

"Critical trigger! I give the critical to my vanguard, and then the power to my Ayari on the rearguard!"

 **(Ayari: 9000 - 14000)**

 **(Ayari (14000) - Sarcoblaze (14000))**

Ayari jumps up high and then closes her balloon and drills it into Sarcoblaze's head as it made contact.

 **Damage check: Dragon Emperor, Emperor Gaia & Cannon Fire Dragon, Sledge Ankylo (Draw)**

"Draw trigger! I draw and give the power to Sarcoblaze!"

 **(Sarcoblaze: 14000-19000)**

"Tsk. And I was even lucky enough to flip that trigger during my drive. Oh well, Ayari can't attack this turn, so I'll end it here."

Kyle takes a deep breath and announces, "Draw."

 **5th turn (Kyle's POV)**

 **Skylar**

 **Hand: 5**

 **Damage: 2**

 **Sunshine Rosa (U), Rupina (U)**

 **Field:**

 **Back row:** Empty **/ Tytis /** Empty

 **Front row: Ayari / Ayari / Princess Celtic**

 **Front row: Jigsawsaurus** **/ Sarcoblaze /** Empty

 **Back row: Baby Camara** **/ Prism Bird /** Empty

 **Kyle**

 **Hand: 6**

 **Damage: 4**

 **Prism Bird (U), Savage Healer (U), Gaia Emperor (U), Sledge Ankylo (U)**

"Well, this looks bad for me, but I have one thing to be glad for."

"Oh?" Skylar inquires.

"I have someone to play Vanguard with. I checked both of the card shops in Angel Peak but neither of them held tournaments or even sold cards for it. With no one else in this school playing it, I was thinking that it would be time to box the game for a bit."

"'Both?'"

"Is something wrong?"

"Angel Peak has three card shops."

"... What?"

"And the third sells cards for this and even holds tournaments. It's the least frequented of the three, but that's only because it tries to capitalize on games that aren't popular in this town."

"And there's tournaments?"

"Yeah. Sunday next week they're holding a big one apparently. The prize is a ticket for one team to participate in the PCCT."

"The PCCT? That's the regional this state is apart of, right?"

"Mm-hmm," Skylar nods in reply like it was common sense, an action he would come to regret.

Kyle's smile somehow grew even wider, and the insanity on his face was like watching a devil from an old JRPG. He chose a card from his hand and slammed it down on his vanguard. The level of mania in these actions terrified Skylar even more that Kyle already had.

"Ride! Emperor Dragon, Gaia Emperor! Then call to my front-right Frenzy Emperor Dragon, Gaia Desperado!"

His vanguard is all of a sudden replaced by a triceradon like dinosaur with a pale bronze scale color and six eyes. Two of his three horns were cannons of a sort and his head was covered in a multi-colored frill of sorts. Next to him a similar dinosaur appeared, but this one was the color of steel, with clear physical improvements made on his body.

 **(Emperor Dragon, Gaia Emperor / Grade 3 / POW: 11000 / Tachikaze)**

 **(Frenzy Emperor Dragon, Gaia Desperado / Grade 3 / POW: 11000 / Tachikaze)**

"Now, let's begin! Gaia Desperado attacks your vanguard!"

 **(Gaia Desperado (11000) - Ayari (9000))**

"No guard! Damage check!"

The weapons on Gaia Desperado's head aims at the vanguard Ayari and fire a pair of high-powered blasts. The poor mermaid is overwhelmed by the dinosaur's power.

 **Damage check: PR** **ISM-Miracle, Canary (Critical)**

"Critical trigger! I give all effects to my vanguard!"

 **(Ayari: 9000 - 14000)**

"With a boost from Prism Bird, Gaia Emperor attacks your vanguard!"

 **(Gaia Emperor (11000) + Prism Bird (7000) = 18000)**

"No guard!"

"Drive check!"

 **Drive check: Cannon Fire Dragon, Sledge Ankylo (Draw)**

"I draw and give the power to Jigsawsaurus," Kyle announces as he goes to do second check.

 **Second drive: Cannon Fire Dragon, Sledge Ankylo (Draw)**

"Double draw!?" Skylar exclaims in surprise.

"I draw and give the power to Jigsawsaurus," Kyle declares.

 **(Jigsawsaurus: 9000 - 19000)**

 **(Gaia Emperor (18000) - Ayari (14000))**

Gaia Emperor charges at the mermaid, and then scoops her up and throws her into the air with his snout. His cannons aim at her flying person and open fire.

 **Damage check: Sweet-PR** **ISM, Rupina**

"Finally, with a boost from Baby Camara, Jigsawsaurus attacks!"

 **(Jigsawsaurus (19000) + Baby Camara (5000) = 24000)**

 _The power's now at twenty-four thousand. I could guard against if I wanted to, but it would take some serious effort out of me,_ Skylar begins to think. _I may wind up using cards I need if I defend now. Let's see, it won't hurt to take it. I'm only at four, and it may help to have a fifth point of damage on the chance I flip a heal trigger, which I haven't done so so far. Afterall, a misplaced heal next turn could ruin my strategy. I have all but one card that I need to win this game next turn, and that card's just stride fodder. If I don't draw it, I'm sure I could easily improvise._

"No guard, damage check," Skylar shrugs.

 **(Jigsawsaurus (24000) - Ayari (14000))**

Once more, Ayari finds herself abused by giant dinosaurs with really big guns. Because Tachi.

 **Damage check: Dreamer Dreamer, Kruk (Stand)**

"Stand trigger. Power to my vanguard, and my rearguard Ayari stands."

"Well, that's the end of my turn."

"Draw," Skylar says, drawing his card, and smiling contently at it.

"Tell me, Skylar, you're new to this town like me, right?"

"Yeah. I came in from Washington State. Tacoma specifically."

"So, have you found a team for the shop tournament then?"

"You make it sound like this is a prom date," Skylar sighs in response. "No, I wasn't sure if I was gonna compete in it."

"Why not?"

"I dunno. I was hoping to find a more groupy kind of thing to do here. I had issues making friends back in Tacoma. Evidently, I'm what you would call 'socially awkward,' so I figured I need to do something so impressive everyone would want to be my friend. Going up to a crowd of people and telling them I play in tournaments for games they probably never heard about isn't gonna do much."

"You'll make friends in the tournament."

"Friends who live in a different corner of the country, no one I can hang out with in class and spend my time talking to."

"I'll hang out with you."

"Not sure if that's a good thing."

"Is there really no way I can get you to make a team with me?" Kyle begs with pleading eyes.

"Ugh, fine. Let me tell you one thing: I'm gonna end this game this turn. I'll set one action I wanna see out of you, and I'll give no clue about what it. You do that action, and I'll make a team with you as the leader. Deal?"

"Deal," Kyle says with enthusiasm.

"You casually accept the odds being against you like it's nothing."

"I'm more curious about what you mean about ending it. If you think I'm gonna go down like nothing, try again. Also, I really like the idea of being the team leader."

"God, let's just end this!"

 **Turn 6 (Skylar's POV)**

 **Kyle**

 **Hand: 8**

 **Damage: 4**

 **Savage Healer (U), Savage Healer (U), Gaia Emperor (U), Sledge Ankylo (U)**

 **Field:**

 **Back row:** Empty **/ Prism Bird / Baby Camara**

 **Front row: Gaia Desperado / Gaia Emperor / Jigsawsaurus**

 **Front row: Princess Celtic / Ayari / Ayari**

 **Back row:** Empty **/ Tytis /** Empty

 **Skylar**

 **Hand: 6**

 **Damage: 5**

 **Sunshine Rosa (U), Rupina (U), Canary (U), Rupina (U), Kruk (U)**

"First, Ride! PR ISM-Image, Vert!"

Skylar's vanguard is replaced by another mermaid, this one with green eyes and pink clothes. She had long brown hair and like the other mermaids, a very cheery personality.

 **(PR** **ISM-Image, Vert / Grade 3 / POW: 11000 / Bermuda Triangle)**

"Now, I pay the cost for Stride!" Skylar exclaims as he discards a grade 3 for the stride. "Show me a brighter future, one where everyone can stand together and smile! Stride Generation! PR ISM-Image, Sunshine Vert!"

Vert is all of a sudden replaced by a newer version of herself, one wearing a two piece that's white with orange plaid decorations. However, Kyle didn't care all that much about the stride unit. Rather he was analyzing what Skylar said; Not the fact that Skylar said anything at all, any serious Vanguard player would have a stride chant for moments like this. Rather it was what Skylar said for his chant.

 **(PR** **ISM-Image, Sunshine Vert / Grade 4 / Stride / POW: 15000+ / Bermuda Triangle)**

"Now, I call Princess Leyte to the back-left circle, and then call Dreamer Dreamer, Kruk to the back right circle and begin my combat phase."

The mermaid in the wedding dress reappears on the field behind Princess Celtic, and now a blonde who was clearly a student stands behind Ayari.

 **(Dreamer Dreamer, Kruk / Grade 0 / Stand / POW: 4000 / Bermuda Triangle)**

 **(PR** **ISM-Promise, Princess Leyte / Grade 1 / POW: 7000 / Bermuda Triangle)**

"Now, the first attack! With a boost from Princess Leyte, Princess Celtic attacks!"

The mermaid begins it's charge...

 **(Princess Celtic (9000) + Princess Leyte (7000) = 16000)**

"Guard!" Kyle says, putting an Ancient Dragon, Dinodile onto the guardian circle.

 **(Gaia Emperor (11000) + Ancient Dragon, Dinodile (10000) = 21000)**

 **(Princess Celtic (16000) - Gaia Emperor (21000))**

… only to be stopped by a large dino-gator thing that pounces at her and scares her off.

"No damage done. Very well, defend against this! The second attack, Ayari attacks your vanguard with no boost. Ayari's generation break! Counterblast 1 and return Princess Leyte to my hand. Ayari gains 5000 power! Princess Leyte's ability, countercharge and soulcharge!" Kyle exclaims, flipping over the top card of the deck, which was Princess Celtic, and sending it into the soul.

 **(Ayari: 9000 - 14000)**

"Guard!" Kyle says, slamming Freezernyx down, even though he was concerned about why Skylar didn't boost with Kruk.

 **(Gaia Emperor (11000) + Freezernyx (5000) = 16000)**

 **(Ayari (14000) - Gaia Emperor (16000)**

Before Ayari can do an umbrella wack, the cheeky little raptor comes out of nowhere and creates an ice wall with his freeze rays that wards Ayari off.

"Now the third attack! Sunshine Vert attacks with no boost!"

Kyle slams down a Savage Guardian onto the guard circle while he shouts "Perfect Guard!"

Skylar watches one of the Sledge Ankylos get discarded and shrugs as Sunshine Vert is stopped by a woman with red hair and tribal clothes that summons a barrier stopping the pop idol from reaching Gaia Emperor

"Triple drive."

 **Drive check: Brand-New-PR** **ISM, Emeral & Sweet-PR** **ISM, Rupina & PR** **ISM-Image, Sunshine Clear (Critical)**

"Critical trigger. I give all effects to Tytis! And now, Sunshine Vert's Limit Break!"

"Limit Break!? On a stride unit!?" Kyle exclaims in surprise.

"Turn a facedown Sunshine Vert faceup and then discard three cards," Skylar says, ignoring Kyle and discarding Princess Leyte, Emeral and Sunshine Clear. "Now, I may choose up to two cards on the rearguard and return them to my hand, but for now I'll choose no one. Then, I may reveal a grade 3 in my hand. If I do, I move Sunshine Vert to the G-Zone face up and then ride that grade 3 as standing."

Kyle looks in surprise as Skylar reveals a unit named PR ISM-Promise, Labrador, and then sends Sunshine Vert to the G-Zone and rides Labrador. The two piece Vert goes back to the pink dress one and then turns into a mermaid with a very flamboyant poofy yellow dress and a giant yellow ribbon.

 **(PR** **ISM-Promise, Labrador / Grade 3 / POW: 11000 / Bermuda Triangle)**

"Now, for Vert's break ride, I return Ayari and Princess Celtic to my hand and give 10000 power to Labrador!"

 **(Labrador: 11000 - 21000)**

 _He's chaining his abilities, and considering how he left Tytis open to take those triggers and use the power to boost Labrador, he had this in mind for a while,_ Kyle notes. _He's pretty good at this clan._

"With a boost from Tytis, Labrador begins the fourth attack. Labrador's Limit Break! Choose up to three units in my hand and call them. If I call three units, Labrador gains another 10000 as well a critical. I call Ayari to my front-right, then Princess Celtic to my front-left and finally Rupina to my back-left! Labrador's boost is active!"

 **(Labrador: 21000 - 31000 / Crit 2)**

 **(Labrador (31000) + Tytis (10000) = 41000)**

Kyle takes a deep breath, and then throws another Ankylo Sledge into the drop zone and announces, "Perfect Guard!"

Labrador's charge is interrupted in the same manner as Sunshine Vert's, causing Skylar to grimace a bit but he regains his composure soon after.

"Alright then. You only have two cards in hand. I wonder if you can really stop all of these attacks," Skylar says as he begins the drive check.

"Watch me. You'll be shocked," Kyle smiles awkwardly.

 **Drive check: PR** **ISM-Promise, Vert, Teacup Fairy, Ruhuna (Heal)**

Skylar smiles warmly at the heal trigger, and then declares, "I'll give the power to Princess Celtic and then heal Sunshine Rosa from my damage zone."

 **(Princess Celtic: 9000 - 14000)**

"Well, that's just rubbing salt in the wound."

"Now, the fifth attack! Princess Celtic attacks with a boost from Rupina!"

 **(Princess Celtic (14000) + Rupina (7000) = 21000)**

"Generation guard! Iron-Armored Chancellor, Dymorphalanx! Dymorphalanx's ability! Since I have more open rear-guard circles than you, he gains 5000 shields for a total of 20000!"

 **(Gaia Emperor (11000) + Dymorphalanx (20000) = 31000)**

Princess Celtic swings her bouquet at Gaia Emperor but is stopped by a giant, metallic dinosaur that fires a flurry of bullets at her, effectively scaring her off.

"Now the sixth attack, Ayari attacks with a boost from Kruk. Ayari's ability! Counterblast 1 to return Rupina to my hand and give Ayari 5000 power. Rupina's ability! Counterblast 1 to return Princess Celtic to my hand and draw a card."

 **(Ayari: 9000 - 14000)**

 **(Ayari (14000) + Kruk (4000) = 18000)**

 _I can't block,_ Kyle thought to himself. _As of current, I've only got 5000 shield left in my hand and the disparity between Ayari and Gaia Emperor is 7000. Hopefully, this is the last attack that Skylar can pull off._

"No guard, damage check," Kyle replies.

 **(Ayari (18000) - Gaia Emperor (11000))**

Ayari closes the distance on Gaia Emperor, and before Gaia Emperor could defend himself, she smacks two of his eyes real hard with her umbrella, the lowest blow one could imagine.

 **Damage check: Louder Ammonite (Stand)**

"Stand trigger! I give the power to Gaia Emperor and Jigsawsaurus stands."

 **(Gaia Emperor: 11000 - 16000)**

"Huh. You saved yourself. I suppose it was good that I chose Rupina's card advantage over the attack that Sunshine Clear would've given me, but I still have one more attack."

"What!?"

"Kruk's ability! I put her on the top of my deck and then return Ayari to my hand. Now I shuffle my deck and call PR ISM-Image, Vert from my hand to my front right circle. Now, attack Gaia Desperado with Vert."

 _Seven attacks, and had he played it a little differently, he could've done eight. This guy's played cards to attack with and then returned them to his hand so he defend with them next turn. However, that's not what it's important here: Do I need to save Gaia Desperado? I lose a lot of attacking power if he dies now, but the card in my hand can change the game,_ Kyle ponders, before realizing something and then smiles.

"No guard," Kyle shrugs.

 **(Vert (11000) - Gaia Desperado (11000))**

Vert jumps in the air and then lands on Gaia Desperado's head and bends over to find his ears. She inhales, and then releases a high-pitched sound that surprises Gaia Desperado to the point that it harms him internally. He dies of a heart attack, turning into a bunch of pixels that disappear into thin air.

"And that will end my turn. Evidently I spoke a little early," Skylar shrugs. "Even then, you're down to a card. I don't know much about Tachi's units, but I do know their strategy: Their abilities eat each other to gain power and other effects. With only three rear-guards, there aren't many options available to you as far as 'eating' goes."

Kyle laughs in a rather strange way, as if he wasn't creepy enough.

"Yeah, that's my clan's strategy. The superior devour and bully the inferior, the way it should be in life. After a bit, the inferior grow tired of it and find ways to become superior themselves. After a while, a society becomes stronger by feeding on itself. It's perfect is it not?"

"It's pathetic and flawed if you're talking politics, and I'm not a fan of letting Darwinism take over society. It takes a village afterall," Skylar snaps, tired of being disturbed by this guy.

"And that tells me all I need to know about you," Kyle replies. "Prepare yourself, Skylar! After this turn, you'll be in a team with me! Draw!"

 **Turn 7 (Kyle's POV)**

 **Skylar**

 **Hand: 6**

 **Face Up In G-Zone: 2**

 **2 PR** **ISM-Image, Sunshine Vert**

 **Damage: 4**

 **Rupina (U), Canary (U), Rupina (U), Kruk (U)**

 **Field:**

 **Back row:** Empty **/ Tytis /** Empty

 **Front row: Vert / Labrador /** Empty

 **Front row: Jigsawsaurus / Gaia Emperor /** Empty

 **Back row: Baby Camara / Prism Bird /** Empty

 **Kyle**

 **Hand: 2**

 **Face Up In G-Zone: 1**

 **1 Iron-armored Chancellor, Dymorphalanx**

 **Damage: 5**

 **Savage Healer (U), Savage Healer (U), Gaia Emperor (U), Sledge Ankylo (U), Louder Ammonite (U)**

Kyle smiles at the drawn card.

"If you don't like a society dominated by the superior, Skylar, then let me show you it's beauty so that you may understand it," Kyle exclaims as he drops a Prism Bird into the Drop Zone. "Prism Bird's ability: It gains +2 to it's grade when I use it for the Stride cost. Now: Turn the hands of the clock not forward but backwards, back to a time where superiority was the greatest law of all! Stride Generation! Absolute Ruler, Gluttony Dogma!"

Gaia Emperor is replaced by a massive t-rex covered in white, sci-fi armor and with a plethora of cannons on his back.

 **(Absolute Ruler, Gluttony Dogma / Grade 4 / POW: 15000+ / Tachikaze)**

"Now, Emperor Gaia's stride ability activates! Counterblast and until the end of this turn, Jigsawsaurus and Baby Camara gain the ability to return to the rearguard after they're retired this turn. Now call another Emperor Gaia to my front-right circle! Finally, I move onto my combat phase! Jigsawsaurus attacks your vanguard with no boost! Jigsawsaurus's generation break! Counterblast and retire Baby Camara! Jigsawsaurus gains 5000 power and if his attack hits I get to draw a card. In addition, I get to retire a rearguard. I choose Vert!"

 **(Jigsawsaurus: 9000 - 14000)**

The flesh on Baby Camara turns into pixels that fly into Jigsawsaurus, giving him an ominous red aura and leaving Baby Camara's bones behind on their own and still standing. Jigsawsaurus crouches, exposing his back, and fires a blade at Vert. The blade pierces through her stomach, killing the idol and turning her into pixels.

"Now, Baby Camara's generation break! Counterblast and superior call Ancient Dragon, Geoconda from my deck to my back-right circle! Then, the ability that Gaia Emperor granted Baby Camara activates. Call him back to my back-left circle. Then Geoconda's ability activates! Soulblast 2 and in return countercharge 2!"

A white-ish snake with red designs on his scales comes out of the ground behind Gaia Emperor. Immediately afterwards, Baby Camara's flesh and armor reappears around it's bones. This catches Skylar by surprise.

 **(Ancient Dragon, Geoconda / Grade 1 / POW: 6000 / Tachikaze)**

 _He fed his rearguard to activate a chain of benefits, such as getting rid of Vert and filling up that empty rearguard spot. This might get a bit more difficult than I expected. I should be safe though: He has long since passed the time to fill that condition, and I have the shields to guard myself,_ Skylar observes.

"Guard!" Skylar says, putting down Rupina onto the guard circle.

 **(Labrador (11000) + Rupina (5000) = 16000)**

 **(Jigsawsaurus (14000) - Labrador (16000))**

Jigsawsaurus starts barreling right at Labrador, but Rupina appears out of nowhere and smacks his face. The dinosaur is so caught off guard by this that Labrador is given the chance to escape.

"Now, I'll attack your vanguard with Gaia Emperor boosted by Geoconda!"

 **(Gaia Emperor (11000) + Geoconda (6000) = 17000)**

 _He's not attacking with his vanguard before his second column. That's not good if I think about card abilities and such, but nothing I can do right now except this,_ Kyle thinks as he slams down Sunshine Clear onto the guard circle.

 **(Labrador (11000) + Sunshine Clear (10000) = 21000)**

 **(Gaia Emperor (17000) - Labrador (21000))**

The six-eyed triceratops aims it's cannons at Labrador, but then Sunshine Clear appears in the line of sight. Her pleading eyes guilt trip Gaia Emperor to the point he couldn't attack.

"Now to finish this!" Kyle yells. "Gluttony Dogma attacks! Engorge!"

"Engorge!?" Skylar says in confusion in anxiety.

"Engorge activates when a unit attacks. In short, when it activates, I can choose to feed that unit any number of rearguards, retiring them. For Gluttony Dogma… Hmm… I'll feed _everyone_ to him."

All of the rearguards under Kyle's control break into pixels, with only Jigsawsaurus's bones being left behind. They fly into Gluttony Dogma's open mouth and from the t-rex a powerful red aura that made him seem much more taller than he really is is released.

"Now, generation break! Since I fed at least three units to Gluttony Dogma's Engorge, I can turn a facedown Gluttony Dogma in my G-Zone faceup and he gains 10000 power and an ability that says that at the end of this battle, if I fed five units to his Engorge, he stands and loses a card on his next drive check."

"What!?"

"In addition, Baby Camara's generation break! Counterblast to call Cold Dragon, Freezernyx to my back-left circle. And then the ability that Gaia Emperor gave Jigsawsaurus! I call him to my front-left circle. And finally," Kyle takes in a deep breath, "I concede. Good game."

"Huh?" Skylar blinks as Kyle packs up his cards.

"I concede."

"But why?"

"That was the condition to join my team, wasn't it?"

"Even if it was, why would you pick now to do it?"

"Hmm… Simply put, I just wanted to put on a show of force. It's a good idea to know your team leader's strength, isn't it?"

"But how did you come to the conclusion that the condition was to concede?"

"There were several reasons. All of them led me to conclude this about you: You really are just socially awkward, and not emo or any of the other rumors about you."

"There are rumors about me?"

"Lots of them. Anyways, I started to suspect your true personality after your stride chant: 'Show me a brighter future,' was it? That got me wondering about your body. It's well built, but I could tell you weren't the type to enjoy doing sports. So, why are your muscles as toned as an athlete's? And then I saw one of the finishing touches: Your heal trigger. I don't know a lot about the PR ISMs, but I do know they have their own heal trigger, and there's more of a point to run that over Teacup Fairy, Ruhuna, who's just a simple vanilla heal trigger. Finally, your finishing combo is a team effort between three different cards, and you said in our conversation that it 'takes a village.' That was when the dots connected. You _don't_ hate playing Bermuda Triangle, you actually love it more than anyone else. The problem is that a male Bermuda Triangle player would face certain stigmas, and you're afraid of those stigmas. It's unfortunate since it's theme of smiling pop idols matches you so well: a person who's devoted themselves entirely to the pursuit of happiness. Your body's so well taken care of because it makes you happy to workout, and your posture's fantastic because you probably participate in activities like yoga and martial arts, definitely for a similar reason as the workout. You also enjoy Bermuda for the adorable art. Not saying you're some creepy otaku of course, but some of the art really is what people would call 'cute,' and those cards make you happy."

"And I suppose that's the reason you think I run Ruhuna?"

"No, and yes. It's so adorable that it's an added bonus in your eyes, but you wouldn't run it over a PR ISM heal trigger for that alone. I'm guessing Ruhuna is either your first and/or your favorite card, and probably the reason you started out playing Bermuda Triangle. It makes you feel, once again, happy when you play it and draw it. Everything you do is out of your wish to be happy. Therefore, I concluded that your condition was to concede, and let you win this game. Was I wrong?"

"You were… completely wrong," Skylar replies, looking down, hiding his expression even though to Kyle it was obviously a smile. "However, you still somehow got it right, and I'm a man of my word. I guess I'm in this team thing, then."

"Good, just one condition," Kyle begins. "You have to throw away all shame and play Bermuda Triangle. Can't have a team member who's too embarrassed to play something he's so good at."

"Hmm… That'll be really tough, but I think I can pull it off," Skylar says, still looking down as he begins to pack up his deck.

"Well, then, I'll start heading to my next class since lunch is almost over. Meet me at the gate to the bus stop, I'll give you my phone number there. Later."

"Later."

After Kyle leaves, Skylar is shocked to see that he subconsciously put Ruhuna on the bottom of his deck, where it'd be easiest to find it and see it. Kyle was dead on: Ruhuna was Skylar's first and favorite card, and he truly did love playing it and Bermuda Triangle. But that got Skylar thinking: Why did he get dragged into what he could only assume to be Kyle's imagination when he originally refused to "imagine"? And even more importantly, why did it seem like their minds were connected? Skylar hadn't noticed it in the brewing intensity of the fight, but Kyle pointed out that Skylar separated his astral body from his vanguard. There's no way that Kyle would've seen that unless Skylar had said something. It was odd considering the only time something like that happened was some odd number of months ago, back when a mysterious pillar of light came down from the atmosphere and landed on Japan. Until towards the end of the day after the pillar disappeared, players all over the world reported "connected imaginations" much like what Skylar was beginning to realize that he and Kyle shared.

Kyle himself doesn't notice this had happened until towards the end of his last class, causing him to yell in surprise and getting him a write up from the teacher for disturbing the class.

* * *

 **So, an analysis of these guys' "avatar" cards, just for fun!**

 **Teacup Fairy, Ruhuna - Grade 0 / Heal Trigger / POW: 5000 / SHD: 10000**

 **That's it. That is really all Ruhuna is. Skylar is a man who adores simple and cute things. He'd be that one boy from elementary school who would play with the other girls and his own Hello Kitty dolls. However, it was Skylar's first card, and what not only brought him into Bermuda Triangle, but Cardfight! Vanguard as a whole. In addition, it's absolutely adorable beyond all belief. That's why, even though there are more reasons to not run it over running it, Skylar still plays a full playset of her in his deck. And that's why you should effectively consider the vanilla heal to be Skylar's avatar. I mean, to be fair, Aichi uses a grade 2 for his avatar, you know.**

 **Absolute Ruler, Gluttony Dogma - Grade 4 / POW: +15000**

 **Stride**

 **[Auto] VC/RC: Engorge**

 **[Auto] VC GB2: [Choose a facedown card named "Absolute Ruler, Gluttony Dogma" from my G-Zone and turn it face up] When this unit becomes engorged, if the number of units retired this turn due to the effect of this unit's engorge ability is three or more, you may pay the cost. If you do, until end of turn, this unit gets [Power]+10000 and "[Auto] VC [1/Turn]: At the end of the battle that this unit attacked, if the number of units retired this turn due to the effect of this unit's engorge ability is five or more, Stand this unit, and this unit get drive -1 until the end of turn."**

 **While I did not copy and paste this from the wiki, as tempting a thought as it was, I did type it verbatim from there, so credit to the Cardfight! Vanguard wiki.**

 **Anyways, Kyle's a guy who enjoys being powerful. If he is in control, if he has the biggest thing on the field, he is the happiest man alive. That's why great picks for him were Dimension Police (And yes, that was at one point considered along with Murakumo and Angel Feather (At that point I was still fleshing him out and he was a normal little mc that did normal mc things)) and Tachikaze. However, Tachikaze's focus on eating each other for power and having dinosaurs with cannons and lasers matched Kyle's love of superiority and his yet-to-be-introduced love of history, namely the history of groups like the Spartans and the Romans. Gluttony Dogma, a monster that boosts its attack and attacks twice by eating everyone else, is an even more perfect fit for Kyle in a clan that already fit Kyle perfectly. That's why Gluttony Dogma is considered Kyle's avatar.**

 **Now that that's over, lets talk about stuff! To begin with, this is a series, starting with what's called the Eurydice arc, and I have a full storyline figured out that'll take up at least 2-3 arcs in total (We can assume that the arcs would be at least 20 chapters each. Who knows? I could be dead wrong and the average would be at least 25, or even 30, or perhaps just 15. We'll see).**

 **Anyways, if you have something to criticize during all of this, whether it be certain plot holes or maybe awkward wording or pacing you did like, tell me in a review. I'll take all criticism you can give since that'll make these chapters better, even if it only works in small increments of improvement. However, I can't get better if I don't know what the problem is. In short, don't hold back.**

 **Finally, hi! I'm lazy. For this, however, I use actual decklists that I made myself in order to keep the fighting more realistic (If you can count double draw being realistic) and to help me organize what I hope you guys will find to be interesting fights. However, the Eurydice arc alone will have four main teams, a total of 12 players, and there'll be main characters not in a team who need a deck. In addition, there are background and supporting characters who'll be needing decks. As such, if you guys wanna pm me a decklist you'd like to see a character play or if you just wanna make a decklist and an OC for me to use to help fill out the supporting cast or the two of the four main teams in Eurydice who only have a leader figured out and not their team members, that'd be great, and I'll even give your name out so others would know your work. There's no guarantee what would happen to your deck or your OC, however, and for the characters I do have figured out but are still in need of a deck, I'll be looking for a specific kind of deck. For example, one character will be running an Aqua Force deck that focuses on the generic multiple attack combo strategy that we all know the clan for, and another will be running a "Maidens of" Neo Nectar deck, and when that character is introduced, I'll be picking what I think is the best decklist of that kind given. In addition, nothing fanmade for now, but you know, feel free to use them Cray Elementals. None of the three mcs use them so far (Those three have all been playing for at least a year, some for much longer, but they're still only semi-competitive level (Yes, the decks for Kyle, Skylar and Francisco are already made)), and they're never seen in the anime series. Gotta give them some love. Thank you for reading these notes and for reading the story! Love ya! Later!**


	2. Heyo, it's ?

**So, a couple of ya'll sent me some OCs. I would just like to say thank you, even if I couldn't reveal them all this chapter. I did, however, reveal one towards the end, so I'll just say who it is and who made him and we then we can get started!**

 **Paing Lim - Character and his corresponding deck were made by user FanOfKings**

 **Also, guys, lets talk formating. Hated a few a elements about how I formatted the last chapter's fight so I tried changing a few things. Nothing big right now, but there are changes. While it looks good at the moment of it's writing, the formatting for the last fight also looked good for me, meaning that a week after this, this is gonna look bad to me. In theory, after a few more fights, I should have a format that works, but expect some experimentation. However, when I'm done getting what I find to be the most satisfying format, I may or may not go back to these earlier chapters and update them to that formatting.**

 **And finally, I just wanted to say I couldn't stop listening to Wicked while writing this chapter. Why? Read the chapter and all will make sense.**

 **Edit:**

 **Just gonna fix some issues pointed out right about now.**

 **-Paign is a typo. Paign does not exist. Paing, however, does.**

 **-Misread Sebreeze's text and made a major error in the dialogue. Error is now fixed.**

 **-So, probably should've added descriptions with all of them cameos. Now cameo characters have descriptions.**

* * *

 **Lunchtime the day after Kyle's and Skylar's battle**

"Skylar…"

"Huh?"

"What was your first deck's archetype?"

"Riviere."

"Skylaar…"

"What?"

"What should we name our team?"

"How should I know?"

"Skylaaar…"

"What!?" Skylar yells loud enough that he gains glares from everyone else in the library.

"When are we gonna get a third team member?" Kyle asks, sitting rather lazily in his chair.

At this Skylar closes his book, which Kyle noted was a romance novel, and replies, "I went to the card shop yesterday and asked around. Unfortunately, most of the players in this town are either already on a team, have no interest in playing in the PCCT or are just not simply at a competitive enough level to do us any good."

"Does that matter as long as they have a deck?" Kyle ponders outloud.

"Kyle, you remember our game, don't you? There are players there who'll be just as good as we are if not better. It's one thing if all there are are pebbles, but if a rolling boulder crashes into another rolling boulder, one of them's gonna break, and sometimes, the one that breaks will be us. If you or I lose, we need a member who we can trust to score a victory against someone who is at least our level."

 _Or so I say, but ignoring Kyle's luck, I might be the inferior of the two of us. Did I just think "inferior?" God, now Kyle's getting into my head. Point is that I can't trust myself to win if I meet someone like Kyle. A strong player for the third team member is a necessity,_ Skylar thought to himself.

"Ugh! Is it possible to find someone else like that in Angel Peak? I'd rather just find someone weak and beef them up… Hold on! Skylar! You said _most_!?" Kyle exclaims in shock at his revelation.

Skylar smirks and replies, "I did hear of one person in this town who's rumored to be one of the best in Angel Peak. Supposedly he even made it to the PCCT's prelims a couple of years ago. Unfortunately, the PCCT only accepts those who place top 16 in the prelims, and his team failed to make that, but they still placed 24th out of a few hundred different teams."

"I see, that's pretty good. And he doesn't have a team yet?"

"Nope. Apparently he pissed off the entire Angel Peak or something like that and no one wants to be on a team with him."

"Well, if the problem's only that no one wants to team with him then it shouldn't be a problem. As long as he can play the game he's good to go as far as I care," Kyle smiles. "Did you get his name, Skylar?"

Skylar opens his mouth to speak, but his surprise he finds an arm slung over his shoulder and a head pops up over the other shoulder.

"Heyo! It's 'Cisco!" the man exclaims, almost howling that last "o."

Skylar blinks, and then throws "'Cisco's" arm off of his shoulder. Kyle, on the other hand, gave a look of utter confusion, and tried to ask a question. He never had the chance though, because before the three boys knew it, the librarian stood right next to them bringing an absolutely terrifying glare down on their heads.

* * *

"We got kicked out of the library," Skylar blinks as the three boys stood outside the library's entrance. It was a really awkward sight to see, as today Kyle choose to wear dark green shorts with a yellow neon long-sleeved shirt, as if he wasn't aware the he couldn't pull off the yellow neon in general. And then there was the third guy, who wore black shorts with a green wife beater. He had brown eyes, tanned skin, latino facial features and his somewhat short hair was dyed a shiny black with bright green highlights, although it's style was a mess with the black ball cap he wore backwards. He had a simple stainless steel ball earring on his left ear, two piercings on his right eyebrow, as well one on his left nostril. In addition, whenever he talked, you could find another piercing on the tip of his tongue. The final thing to note about him was that he had several tattoos, some of them clearly still being worked on, with the most noticeable one being a skull covered in vines and roses on his left shoulder.

"You're just sad you didn't get a chance to check out that book," Kyle replies.

"Well, hey, guys! At least it's only for today, you know?" the third one chuckles. "You can check out the book afterwards!"

"And who are you? ''Cisco' doesn't exactly tell us much!" Skylar snaps.

"My name's Francisco!" he replies proudly as if Kyle and Skylar should know the name, which Skylar does.

"You mean, Francisco Abrantes!?"

"The one and only."

"Uh… Kyle," Skylar says looking over to his teammate, "This is him."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah."

"Well, this is fun," Kyle blinks.

"Yep! Do you know what would be even more fun, man? Letting me join your team!" Francisco exclaims as if he was trying to pick up a girl.

"Okay. Cool with me. You're in," Kyle shrugs.

"Ah please man, I'd do any- huh?" Francisco blinks, registering Kyle's answer.

"I figured you'd accept, Kyle, but that was blunt," Skylar points out. "Anyways, ''Cisco,' we were already gonna invite you anyways, so it's not surprising really. Now here's one question I have for you, how did you know about our team? We just formed it yesterday."

"Oh, I watched you two."

"We played in an alcove."

"Plenty of room to peak from around the corner."

"So, you stalked us?" Kyle asks in confusion.

"Hmm… Well, when you put it like that... Ah well. We got a team, peeps! Now, who's gonna pay?"

"What?" Kyle and Skylar ask in unison.

"The entry fee. It's 25 to participate. I don't think one person should pay for that all by himself."

Kyle and Skylar looked at each other and blinked. Almost instantly Skylar took out a calculator and started crunching the numbers. At last, Skylar comes out with an answer.

"25 divided by three is 8.3 repeating, meaning that if one of us pays $8.34 and the other two pay $8.33 we'll have 25 covered," Skylar explains, mentally double checking that.

"I don't wanna pay $8.33 or $8.34 though. I hate decimals," Kyle frowns.

"Then we can pay in two sums of 8 and one sum of 9," Skylar replies.

"Not gonna work. I hate the numbers 8 and 9," Francisco answers.

"You're kidding me," Skylar moans, resisting the urge to facepalm.

"Why not go simple with this, and have two sums of 10 and one sum of 5?" Kyle smiles. "It'll be simple, I provide one 10, Skylar provides the other and Francisco pays 5."

"Hold on, why are we paying 10?" Skylar questions.

"Because you and I founded the team and so we have a responsibility to put the most effort in it's success, both physically and financially."

"Hold on! I'm the new guy! If I pay 5, I look like a cheapskate! I have standards!" Francisco exclaims.

"Are we seriously arguing about this!? We just got a third mem-" Skylar begins before being interrupted by the school bell, a miracle to Skylar's ears. "Oh hey! Look! The bell! We can continue discussing this tomorrow morning in the cafeteria. A team meeting, you know? Right, guys?"

"Sorry, Skylar, but I can't let this one go," Francisco says seriously, as if he was about to go to war. "Kyle! There's only one way to settle this, dude!"

"Indeed there is," Kyle smiles, the manic look in his eyes beginning to develop.

"H- Hey, guys! How about this? I just pay the five. I can handle it," Skylar mutters, trying to mediate the situation.

"No can do, man. I can see you're too good of a person to do such a thing as humiliate you by being the team cheapskate. It's gotta be me or Kyle," Francisco calmly explains as if it was the last time he'd see Skylar, with Kyle nodding in agreement. "There's a good place to settle these things just outside of Angel Peak. After school I'll drive the three of us there in my car and then we'll settle this with a battle. Loser has to pay the five."

"That's not enough!" Kyle exclaims. "The loser also faces another condition: They have to name the team!"

"Oh come on! How is that a bad thing!?" Skylar yells out of frustration.

"Think about it Skylar: The one who names the team on their own is the one who bears the shame if the name is a terrible one. There is no worse punishment than being the one solely in charge of that responsibility," Kyle explains as if it was capital punishment.

"Th- That's a heavy price to pay, but I don't plan to lose! I'll take your bet!"

"Then, after school it is! Prepare yourself, Francisco! I'll come at you with full force!"

"I'd ask for nothing less!"

 _I'm in a team of idiots,_ Skylar thinks to himself as he walks away from the situation and to his next class.

* * *

 **Outside of Angel Peak, Oregon / After school**

"What is this thing?" Skylar exclaims in surprise at the sight of the place that Francisco brought the team for the battle.

It was a massive, circular grey stone brick wall with only one entrance made up of intersecting iron bars that dug into the bricks so that it was more like part of a jail cell than an actual door. Inside of it, at it's very center, was a massive oak tree. Beyond that, there was nothing significant about it all. It was just a random brick wall with a gate that couldn't be opened surrounding a tree.

"No one knows. Legend is that it's been around since Angel Peak's founding. We just call it the Angel's Mystery," Francisco casually replies.

"So, an ancient brick wall with seemingly no apparent purpose, huh?" Kyle mutters to himself, taking in the sight of it. "So, Francisco, why take us all the way here? It took a half hour to get here by car, after all."

"You see guys, an urban legend started up recently about this place. A football player apparently made a bet with some thug that if the thug could floor the football player in a street fight the loser would have to break up with his girlfriend, the thug's sister. Well, the thug won, and the football player didn't hold up his end, and kept on seeing her in secret. Well, then he started being visited by these terrible nightmares of a girl's pure white silhouette with red lines below where her eyes would be. These kept on occurring until the football player finally broke up with the thug's sister. Since then, whenever anyone made a bet here and didn't uphold their end, they would be visited by those same nightmares. As such, the rule is is that whenever a bet is made here, someone needs to pay the losing end and someone needs to pay the winning end or the dreams come," Francisco smiles as he takes out his deck and holds it out towards Kyle. "Kyle Reeves! The winner of this battle receives the privilege of paying ten bucks to contribute to the entry fee!"

Kyle chuckles as his eyes widen and he takes out his own deck, "And the loser has to pay five and name the team!"

Skylar sighs as he moves towards the Mystery and leans against the wall while watching Kyle and Francisco set up their tables and holding a game of rock, paper, scissors to determine the first player, who was Kyle. They took out their G-Units and their starting vanguards and began shuffling.

"And one question," Kyle begins.

"Let me guess: Is this deck my first clan?" Francisco smiles.

"Hmph, I guess that tells me all I need to know."

Skylar looks away awkwardly for a minute, remember his deck's clan.

"What's going on here?"

Skylar almost jumped five feet in the air as he looks at the girl who had just appeared next to him, leaning against the wall with him. She was noticeably short, the top of her head reaching to just halfway up Skylar's bicep. However, it was clear that she wasn't a kid, since she seemed that she could be in his high school's sophomore year. She wore a simple pink dress with white socks and black slippers. It somehow seemed to compliment her waist length brown hair and green eyes.

"Where the heck did you come from?" was Skylar's first thought.

"I was hiking and I happened to notice the car you three were in so I was curious to see what kind of bet was being made."

"You mean this is a regular thing?" Skylar asks.

"Happens at least twice a day I hear," the girl shrugs. "Name's Rachel by the way. How about you and those two?"

"Skylar. The blonde one's Kyle, and the one with the piercings and tattoos is Francisco."

"Alrighty then, Skylar, tell me: What are those two doing?"

"They would rather pay ten bucks for a fee and not pay five and so now they're gonna have a card fight to decide who has to pay five and who has to pay ten."

"Hold on. You mean, if one wins, they pay ten bucks for whatever this is, and the loser puts in five?"

"Yep."

"You need smarter friends."

"Alright Kyle, now that we've both redrawn our hands, let's start this, man!" Francisco says, turning over his vanguard. "Stand up, Regalia of Prayers, Pray Angel!"

 **(Regalia of Prayers, Pray / POW: 5000 / Genesis)**

"Stand up," Kyle says as he flips his vanguard, "Baby Camara!"

 **(Baby Camara / POW: 5000 / Tachikaze)**

"Draw, and then ride Fullfire Elk **(G1 / 6000)**! Call Baby Camara from my soul to my back-left circle," Kyle yells as he tries imagining the field, only for the slightly unexpected to happen.

Kyle found himself on the terrace of a building the seemed to be carved into the side of a small, steep mountain. From the style of architecture, it was definitely an United Sanctuary building, and from how it was made, it was clearly a fortress of sorts. It was also quite old, with vines and wallflowers covering most of the wall. The only thing that looked new was a massive banner hanging above the door into the main building with the symbol of Genesis on it. As for the terrace itself, it seems to be a flat part of the hill that was left untouched in the fortress's construction, with flowers of varying different colors allowed to grow all over it. Kyle looked into the field below and saw an endless plain with flowers of different colors covering it in a polka-dot like manner.

"So, here it is again. I didn't think this one up, did you?" Kyle says, turning his head, which was now that of an armored elk's with miniguns on its antlers. Behind him and a little to his left was the tiny eggshell wearing dino with laser cannons that Kyle started out with.

"You mean this isn't normal?" Francisco asks as an angel with white, blue and purple robes. He hadn't fully blended himself with her, but unlike how Skylar completely separated himself from his vanguard, Francisco was still in her body, and she had his eyes.

"No, and it's certainly not normal for an outsider to be able to join in like this," Skylar said from the distance, his spectral form now leaning against the wall of the fortress. Next to him was the spectral form of a small girl who neither one of them knew as Rachel.

"You said you went to the card shop, right Skylar? Did this also happen there?" Kyle wonders.

"Yeah, it sure did."

"From what I understand, this has been normal here for a long time," Francisco interjects. "We even consider them pretty important. Sometimes, the other players and I would think that Cray was real, and these battlefields are actual places on their planet, and everyone had their own unique field. Some locals will even call it a secondary home of sorts. Although, it not being normal might explain why I couldn't come here back in the prelims for the PCCT. But man, that's enough. We got a fight to finish."

"Good point. End turn," Kyle announces.

 **2nd Turn (Francisco's POV)**

 **Kyle**

 **Hand: 5**

 **Damage: 0**

 **Field:**

 **Back row:** Empty **/** Empty **/ Baby Camara**

 **Front row:** Empty **/ Fullfire Elf /** Empty

 **Front row:** Empty **/ Pray Angel /** Empty

 **Back row:** Empty **/** Empty **/** Empty

 **Francisco**

 **Hand: 6**

 **Damage: 0**

"Draw, and then ride Witch of Oranges, Valencia **(G1 / 7000)**! Call Pray Angel to my back-center circle. Then call Witch of Cats, Cumin **(G1 / 7000)** to my front-left circle. Cumin's ability! Soulcharge one card. Now call Witch's Familiar, Shiroma **(G0 / 4000)** to my back-right circle. Shiroma's ability! Put him on top of my deck and shuffle. Afterwards, since I have a vanguard with Witch in its card name, I draw a card and then reveal the top three cards of my deck, and then from among them I send Witch of Quill Pens, Oneon to my soul and put the other two into my drop zone."

All of a sudden, Francisco goes from being an angel to being a green eyed young girl in white robes with a white witch's hat and her blonde hair being tied up in twin ponytails. The angel Francisco was reappears behind him, and then to his left a redhead with blue eyes and white robes like Valencia appeared, tightly hugging a cat. Then for a moment a ferret-like thing with a glowing blue scarf and a white witch hat and a tail of smoke instead of a rear-end appeared. However, the ferret sent a blue orb into Valencia, causing her to glow blue for a moment and then he just disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"So here's my question," Skylar begins, looking down at Rachel, "how are you here with us? Do you play this as well?"

"A little. I just haven't heard of anyone playing it here at the Angel's Mystery."

"Now, I attack your vanguard with Cumin **(7000-6000)**!"

"No guard, damage check," Kyle declares.

 **Damage check: Frenzy Emperor Dragon, Gaia Desperado**

Cumin runs up to the Fullfire Elk, and then lets go of her cat, which grows in size and attacks. Cat owners can sympathize with the pain that Kyle's vanguard felt.

"With a boost from Pray Angel, Valencia attacks your vanguard **(7000+5000=12000) (12000-6000)**!

"No guard again!"

"Drive check!"

 **Drive check: Lemon Witch, Limonccino (Critical)**

"Critical! I give all effects to Valencia **(12000+5000=17000 / Crit 2)**."

"Tch. Damage check!"

 **Damage check: Savage Guardian, Rusher Erasmo**

Valencia summons four floating oranges and fires them at cannonball speeds straight at Fullfire Elk. Unfortunately for the Elk, this was only a distraction while Valencia summoned an orange the size of a child and fires it at the same speed. The Fullfire Elk was surprised at how easily it was defeated by oranges.

"And that'll be the end of my turn," Francisco smiles.

"He did that much on just his first turn," Rachel notes.

"Yeah, and it didn't take much out of him, either. As far as card advantage goes, after all of that he only lost one card," Skylar adds on.

"Are you familiar with this strategy, Skylar?"

"Not even remotely. I mean, I didn't even know there were witches outside of Shadow Paladin. However, soulcharging and soulblasting are central to the Genesis strategy. Francisco's building up his soul for a reason. What reason? I can't even imagine."

"It can't be that bad, can it?"

"Francisco's team placed 24th out of over four hundred teams when they participated in the PCCT prelims. While that's not good enough to advance into the PCCT itself it's still impressive. No one goes that far without having any skill."

"How can you place 24th in a card game tournament?" Rachel questions.

"The PCCT prelims aren't elimination rounds. Rather, they make the teams play an excessive number of games and while that's going on your team and you are observed by a judge who assigns a score based on certain factors they keep hidden from the players. In short, they're measuring your team's skill instead of your win/loss record. As such, you can do well and still not place top 16 or you can do horribly and still make the cut. The only exception is if your team makes 'Total Finish.' Basically, if your team wins all of the games 2-0, you have complete immunity from elimination, regardless of whether or not you make it to the top 16."

"So, in simpler terms, his team got that score based on an observation of their skill instead of how well they did. And that's why making 24th out of such a ridiculously large group is a such a big deal."

"Pretty much."

 **3rd Turn (Kyle's POV)**

 **Francisco**

 **Hand: 5**

 **Damage: 0**

 **Field:**

 **Back row:** Empty **/ Pray Angel /** Empty

 **Front row:** Empty **/ Valencia / Cumin**

 **Front row:** Empty **/ Fullfire Elk /** Empty

 **Back row: Baby Camara /** Empty **/** Empty

 **Kyle**

 **Hand: 6**

 **Damage: 3**

 **Savage Guardian (U), Gaia Desperado (U), Rusher Erasmo (U)**

"Draw, and then ride Rusher Erasmo **(G2 / 7000)**! And then I call Cold Dragon, Freezernyx **(G1 / 7000)** to my front-left circle!"

The Fullfire Elk turns into a giant rhinoceros like beast covered in stainless steel armor that emitted some form of electricity. Riding on top of it was a man covered in leather armor, although this man was now replaced by Kyle. To his left an armored raptor with freeze rays appeared.

"With a boost from Baby Camara, Freezernyx attacks your vanguard **(7000+5000=12000) (12000-7000)**!"

"No guard, damage check!"

 **Damage check: Black Snake Witch, Chicory**

Freezernyx rushes straight at Valencia, however, as she moved to defend herself, she found herself overwhelmed and unable to move against Freezernyx's freeze rays.

"Now, I'll attack your vanguard with Rusher Erasmo **(7000-7000)**!"

"No guard."

"Drive check!"

 **Drive check: Blade Dragon, Jigsawsaurus**

"Agh… No trigger," Kyle shrugs.

"Damage check," Francisco frowns.

"Hey, wait a minute! You sound sad about something."

"I was there when you were playing against Skylar, Kyle. You're not nearly as excited as you were back then," Francisco complains.

 _He says that like it was a good thing. Seriously, if Kyle starts acting like that in front of the wrong person, he'd probably have the cops called on him,_ Skylar thought to himself, taking a moment to notice how absorbed Rachel was in the battle going on.

"Then, Francisco, make me that excited!" Kyle replies, his more creepier side showing a little bit more.

"You can be sure that I will," Francisco announces as he turns over his top card.

 **Damage check: Witch of White Rabbits, Cardamon**

Rusher Erasmo begins charging, and before Valencia could dodge or do anything, the electricity swarming Rusher Erasmo's horn flies off and shocks her, burning her hair and causing her to convulse a bit until she was completely helpless against the charge of her foe.

"And that'll be it for my turn," Kyle announces.

 **4th Turn (Francisco's POV)**

 **Kyle**

 **Hand: 5**

 **Damage: 3**

 **Savage Guardian (U), Gaia Desperado (U), Rusher Erasmo (U)**

 **Field:**

 **Back row:** Empty **/** Empty **/ Baby Camara**

 **Front row:** Empty **/ Rusher Erasmo / Freezernyx**

 **Front row: Cumin / Valencia /** Empty

 **Back row:** Empty **/ Pray Angel /** Empty

 **Francisco**

 **Hand: 6**

 **Damage: 2**

 **Chicory (U), Cardamon (U)**

"Draw, and then ride the Witch of White Rabbits, Cardamon **(G2 / 9000)** and move Witch of Cats, Cumin to the back-left circle. Afterwards, I call Witch of Aster, Star **(G2 / 9000)** to the front-left circle and then Star's ability activates! Counterblast one card and soulcharge two cards."

Francisco's vanguard turns into a witch in blue and white robes, with giant rabbit ears on her large witch's hat. The blonde witch with pinkish eyes had a whole bunch of bunnies she was hugging, similar to how Cumin hugged onto her cat. Cumin jumps back just as a blonde witch with green eyes who wore a white shirt and a poofy skirt with leggings of a color scheme similar to Cardamon's. On this witch's greyish hat with blue frills underneath was a star made up of jewels. Star opens up her hand, and out of it comes a flying blue orb that goes into Cardamon and causes her to glow for a few seconds.

"Now, Witch of Aster, Star attacks your vanguard with a boost from Cumin **(9000+7000=16000) (16000-7000)** ," Francisco announces.

"No guard," Kyle smiles.

 **Damage check: Savage Healer (Heal)**

"Heal trigger! I give the power to Rusher Erasmo **(7000+5000=12000)** and I heal Savage Guardian!"

Aster summons a barrage of arcane projectiles that look like blue stars and fires them at Rusher Erasmo. However, a redheaded girl in tribal clothes and a part of a tiger's head on top of her head like it was a hat stood in between Rusher Erasmo and Star's barrage, taking all of the hits for her ally.

"Now, I attack your vanguard with Cardamon boosted by Pray Angel **(9000+5000=14000) (14000-12000)**!"

"No guard!"

"Drive check!"

 **Drive check: Witch's Familiar, Shiroma (Critical)**

"Critical trigger! I give all effects to Cardamon **(9000+5000=14000 / Crit 2) (14000+5000=19000 / Crit 2)**!"

"Dang it! Damage check!"

 **Damage check: Cannon Fire Dragon, Sledge Ankylo (Draw)**

"Draw trigger! I draw a card and give the power to Rusher Erasmo **(12000+5000=17000)**. Next check!"

 **2nd Damage check: Explosive Dragon, Sarcoblaze**

"And that'll be the end of my turn, man," Francisco smiles as he see the sweat roll down Kyle's face."

"I don't get it," Rachel thinks aloud.

"Hmm?" Skylar questions.

"There's a complete difference of their speeds. Francisco has activated at least one ability each turn, and Kyle has activated no abilities whatsoever. Not to mention, Kyle is on the end of his rope here and he hasn't been guarding."

"It's because of Kyle's personality," Skylar explains. "He's one of those players who's focused on strength and spirit."

"Players like that exist?"

"Mm-hmm. All kinds of players exist. Some players are simplistic, only playing decks that pretty much pilot themselves. Others are patient, preferring to stall until they can shift the game in their favor and crush their opponents. And then you've got some who use analysis to figure out their opponents and arrive at the best possible outcome for them. There's also many who love to find ways to chain abilities as much as possible and those are divided into those like me who love to use combos to whittle down your opponent's resources by attacking as much as possible even if the attacks are all little bee stings or by forcing your opponents to guard to reduce their hand size and then there's others others who like to use the combos to create a huge threat and overpower their opponents completely, regardless of resources. And then last but not least, you've got the people like Kyle, who simply love the feeling of being strong. They get fired up and crazy, and usually prefer to stride as much as possible simply because of a stride unit's raw strength. To help back that up, they use a lot of generation break abilities."

"In other words, Kyle starts out like a sitting duck but then goes crazy when he start playing his stride units."

"Exactly," Skylar nods. "That's also probably why he doesn't guard: He's building counterblast material for when he gets to that critical stage of his while save up his guards. Or, at least, that's my theory. I can't really say much since I do the same thing so I can activate my units' limit break abilities."

 **5th Turn (Kyle's POV)**

 **Francisco**

 **Hand: 5**

 **Damage: 2**

 **Chicory (F), Cardamon (U)**

 **Field:**

 **Back row:** Empty **/ Pray Angel / Cumin**

 **Front row:** Empty **/ Cardamon / Star**

 **Front row: Freezernyx / Rusher Erasmo /** Empty

 **Back row: Baby Camara /** Empty **/** Empty

 **Kyle**

 **Hand: 6**

 **Damage: 5**

 **Gaia Desperado (U), Rusher Erasmo (U), Savage Healer (U), Sledge Ankylo (U), Sarcoblaze (U)**

"Draw, and then ride Emperor Dragon, Gaia Emperor **(G3 / 11000)**! Now call Jigsawsaurus **(G2 / 9000)** to my front-right circle and Fullfire Elk **(G1 / 6000)** to my back-right circle. After that I begin my attack phase!"

Kyle's vanguard turns into Gaia Emperor, the six-eyed triceratops with a multicolor frill. To his right, a dinosaur in red armor and blades all over it's back appears. Behind that another Fullfire Elk materializes.

"No guard. Damage check!"

 **Damage check: White Snake Witch, Mint**

Freezernyx charges at Cardamon, and even though Cardamon tries to run, a person really can't outrun a raptor. Especially when said raptor can blocks that person's escape route with ice walls.

"Now, Gaia Emperor will attack your vanguard **(11000-9000)**!"

"Perfect guard!" Francisco exclaims as he slams down a Witch of Strawberries, Framboise, discarding a Witch of Fruit of Knowledge, Rooibos for the cost.

"Wait, did you just discard a sentinel for the cost of that ability?" Kyle questions.

"Indeed I did. Do your drive check."

"Ooookay," Kyle replies in utter confusion as he flips over his top card.

 **Drive check: Louder Ammonite (Stand)**

"Stand trigger! I give all effects to Freezernyx **(7000+5000=12000)** ," Kyle says as he stands Freezernyx.

 **2nd check: Prism Bird**

Gaia Emperor aims his horn cannon and fires, but a witch with blue eyes and white hair appears and summons a magic circle that blocks the attack entirely.

"Now, Freezernyx attacks your vanguard **(12000-9000)**!"

"Intercept with Star **(9000+5000=14000) (12000-14000)** ," Francisco announces as he moves Witch of Aster, Star to the guard circle.

Freezernyx fires his freeze rays at Cardamon but Star steps in front of her and blocks the attack with a mana shield before dispersing into pixels.

"Finally, I attack your vanguard with Jigsawsaurus boosted by Fullfire Elk **(9000+6000=15000) (15000-9000)** ," Kyle announces.

"No guard. Damage check."

 **Damage check: Drip Witch, Rosemary (Stand)**

"Stand trigger. Power to my vanguard and Cumin stands."

"Your turn."

"And here it is, Rachel," Skylar says.

"Here what is?"

"This turn. Here we'll see what Francisco is trying to do."

 **6th Turn (Francisco's POV)**

 **Kyle**

 **Hand: 4**

 **Damage: 5**

 **Gaia Desperado (U), Rusher Erasmo (U), Savage Healer (U), Sledge Ankylo (U), Sarcoblaze (U)**

 **Field:**

 **Back row: Fullfire Elk /** Empty **/ Baby Camara**

 **Front row: Jigsawsaurus / Gaia Emperor / Freezernyx**

 **Front row:** Empty **/ Cardamon /** Empty

 **Back row: Cumin / Pray Angel /** Empty

 **Francisco**

 **Hand: 4**

 **Damage: 4**

 **Chicory (F), Cardamon (U), Mint (U), Rosemary (U)**

"Draw, and then ride! Witch of Pure Star, Anis **(G3 / 11000)**!"

Francisco's vanguard turns into a witch with a white and red long-sleeved shirt that exposes her belly like a crop top and pants that were also white. She wore a large black hat with red frills underneath and a star made up of jewels, just like was on Star's hat. A large smile grows on Francisco's face, a smile that appeared on Anis.

"He didn't do a ride chant? But, something about that look on his face makes it seem so important to him," Rachel mutters.

"Ride chant? You must watch Euro League or something. Yeah, we don't do that in America, we're just weird like that. We used to, but then we stopped a few years ago. We still do legion and stride chants, but as far as ride chants, only older players, foreigners and the occasional oddball use them," Skylar explains

"Huh, something about that is disappointing. It makes it feel as if there's no spirit," Rachel frowns.

"Now call to my front-left! Witch's Familiar, Shiroma **(G0 / 4000)**! Shiroma's ability! I put him on the top of my deck and shuffle. Draw and then look at the top three cards of my deck and choose one and put in my soul and the rest go into my drop zone. Now, I return four cards from my drop zone to my deck," Francisco says as he returns the three sentinels in his drop zone and a heal trigger to his deck and announces, "Seek mate!"

Kyle is taken aback as Francisco pulls out a Witch of Aster, Star from his deck and yells, "Unite the heavens with your spell! Legion **(Anis & Star / G3 & G2 / 11000+9000=20000)**!"

Next to Anis, Star materializes in a bright blue glow, with both Anis and Star having Francisco's eyes and facial expression. In between them a brilliant golden star materializes. It was so bright it was almost too hard for Kyle to look at.

"Witch of Aster, Star's ability! Counterblast one card, soulcharge two cards and Cumin, Anis and Star all gain 2000 power until the end of turn **(Anis & Star / 13000+11000=24000) (Cumin / 9000)**. Now, Pray Angel's ability! I send her into my soul and soulcharge three cards and Anis gains 5000 power **(Anis & Star / 18000+11000=29000)**. Then I call White Snake Witch, Mint **(G3 / 11000)** to my front-left circle. Now, behold the Thousand Voices!"

Pray Angel disperses into a bunch of blue sparkles. Francisco, and by extension his two vanguards, smile much more widely as they glow blue for a second. All of a sudden, a black hair, blue eyed witch with white clothes and with a large white snake coiled around her appeared next to Francisco's two vanguards. In immediate response, Anis and Star glow blue and stay glowing as the star between them correspondingly glows blue as well.

"Thousand Voices?" Kyle questions.

"My deck's ultimate setup combo," Francisco replies.

"He named his deck's combo?" Skylar mutters with a blank face.

"'Ultimate?' Now that's a big term. Why don't you be a good boy and show it to me?" Kyle taunts as he smiles wildly.

"Gladly! To begin with, Anis's ability! When a witch enters the field during the turn she Legioned, soulblast three cards to soulcharge one card and countercharge one card! And then the ability of Witch of Oranges, Valencia! When she's put into the drop zone from the soul, I can soulcharge two cards. In addition, the ability of Witch of Grapes, Grappa! Soulcharge two more cards. Furthermore, with Witch of White Rabbits Cardamon's ability, I can counterblast a card to superior call her to my front-right circle and she gains 2000 power until the end of turn **(G2 / 9000) (9000+2000=11000)**. Then Anis's ability! Once per turn, when a witch enters the drop zone from my soul, I can counterblast a card to superior call that witch to my rearguard and if Anis is Legion, I can draw. I'll activate this ability to superior call Witch of Oranges, Valencia to my back-center circle **(G1 / 7000)**!"

"That's not all, is it?" Kyle jabs.

"Not even remotely! Since Cardamon and Valencia entered the field, Anis's soulblast ability activates twice! Soulblast three more cards to countercharge and soulcharge. And then, again. Now, from the cards I soulblasted first, counterblast one card to superior call Witch of Quill Pens, Oneon to my back-right circle and she gains 2000 power until the end of turn **(G1 / 7000) (7000+2000=9000)**. And then Grappa's ability! Soulcharge two cards. And now from the second batch of soulblasted cards, I activate Valencia's ability and soulcharge another two cards. I could activate Anis's soulblast again with Oneon's entrance, but I'll play it safe for now and keep the cards in my soul."

Out of the now blue star comes three shining orbs that land on the ground around Anis and Star and turn into units. Kyle recognized the Cardamon that was now at Francisco's right and the Valencia behind him, but now behind Cardamon was a witch in white, blue and pink robes surrounded by flying blue runes. Anis and Star stop glowing and the star's color reverts back to gold.

"Did he seriously just fill up his field and soul by playing one card from his hand on his rearguard?" Rachel utters in complete disbelief.

"It's more than that," Skylar interjects. "He now has two cards on his vanguard circle. When he strides, both will become heart cards, even if the G-Unit only takes the name and power of one of them. There are some cards that profit off of having two heart cards, and if the witches are a Legion based clan like they're shaping up to be right now, it only makes sense they would have one of those stride units. It won't end the game, but yeah, it sure is a powerful setup trick. The problem is how is he gonna use the set up?"

"Now, let's start our attacking," Francisco smiles. "First, Mint attacks your vanguard with a boost from Cumin **(11000+9000=20000) (20000-11000)**!"

 _He set himself up for his next turn and kept cards in his hand for his next turn, and also kept himself down to four damage,_ Kyle realizes as he begins his analyzing. _In short, he can keep himself alive after my next turn. From there he can crush me with whatever finisher he plays. Assuming he doesn't boost his power anymore and that he only attacks three times this turn, I could actually block all of the attacks, but doing so would put me in so bad of a position it would be impossible to recover. It would require using the both Prism Bird and Jigsawsaurus to block Mint, but I need both something to stride with and something that can attack on it's own next turn, and there'd be no way to get those if I guard with those two. In conclusion, that means there's only one way to achieve victory._

"No guard!" Kyle announces, much to the surprise of everyone else.

"You sure you wanna do that, bro? You're at five," Francisco points out.

"I thought about it, and decided there's no better option at this point but to bet on a heal trigger. Otherwise I'm screwed over no matter what I do. Now, let's test it," Kyle smiles.

"'Test it?' Test what!?"

"The strength of my luck. That is half the battle is it not?" Kyle replies, his eyes getting wider, his mania finally beginning to manifest.

"Funny you should say half when you're clearly missing half a brain! But if you wanna play gambler, then let's play!" Francisco exclaims as the white snake around Mint jumps out at Gaia Emperor, ready to deal the finishing blow.

"Damage check!" Kyle says as he flips over the top card of his deck.

 **Damage check: Savage Healer (Heal)**

The snake bites down on Gaia Emperor and injects Gaia Emperor with it's poison, but Gaia Emperor stands strong through it and shakes Mint's companion off of his head. The tiger-head-hat redhead comes out from behind and casts a spell to extract the poison.

"Holy…!" Francisco begins, the rest of the sentence being inappropriate for a K+ story. "You actually pulled it off!"

"So I did. Power to Gaia Emperor **(11000+5000=16000)** and I heal Savage Healer," Kyle replies as he takes a breath of relief. "Now what're you waiting for? Bring it!"

"Alright then, with a boost from Valencia, Anis and Star attack **(29000+7000=36000) (36000-16000)**!"

"Perfect guard!" Kyle yells as he slams Savage Guardian down and discards Ancient Dragon, Geoconda.

Above Anis and Star a bunch of small stars appear the fire off one at a time straight at Gaia Emperor. All of a sudden, a redhead in tribal clothes appears and summons a barrier that just barely fends off the shooting stars.

 **Drive check: White Snake Witch, Mint, Witch's Familiar, Shiroma (Critical)**

"Critical trigger! All effects to Cardamon **(11000+5000=16000 / Crit 2)**

"And finally, I'll attack your vanguard with Cardamon boosted by Oneon **(16000+9000=25000) (25000-16000)**."

"Guard!" Kyle shouts as he drops Louder Ammonite down onto the guard circle **(10000+16000=26000) (25000-26000)**.

Cardamon releases her rabbits and they run at Gaia Emperor covered in blue sparkles, enchantments that probably wouldn't spell good news for the dinosaur if it wasn't for the appearance of some octopus like monster with purple lights that released a siren-like sound that scared off the rabbits.

"End turn," Francisco smiles. "Glad you're finally getting into this one, Kyle. Since the day I saw you two I wanted to know what it was like to face that intensity head on."

"Are you fan of those kinds of things? Usually, I make children cry for some reason because of it?" Kyle questions.

 _You mean you're aware of the fact that you're a creep!?_ Skylar says in the back of his head.

"Yeah. I have a friend in my grade named Felix who plays a lot like you. Dude and the team he's in are absolute monsters."

"I see, so you're associating me with him. I'm assuming you've got a bad win record against him?"

"Pretty much. Out of 146 games, I've only won 28 times, and the last victory was two years ago, just before my team went to the PCCT prelims. Being with someone who has a spirit that can match him in intensity would be good for me."

"He kept count of that record?" Rachel points out with a shocked expression on her face.

"I've been meaning to ask you that, Francisco," Kyle interjects. "You've got a lot of skill. After all, you already have me on edge, and you haven't even played your finisher. I seriously can't believe nobody wants you on their team."

"Oh, that's a rumor. It's true that a lot of people in Angel Peak hate me but I still get invited to local teams plenty of times and I still have friends."

"Which means you've shot down invitations before? Then why did you pursue Skylar and I?"

"That's simple," Francisco says as he takes a deep breath. "There's no girls on your team _and_ Skylar is feminine, or sort of!"

"Huh?" Kyle and Skylar blink in unison.

"The team I went to the PCCTs with was called Supernova Failure, and it's members were me, a local girl who graduated last year and moved onto Oregon State University, and finally this one weird guy from California the two of us met online named Theo. Anyways, after the prelims, that girl and I… Well… We kinda, uhm…"

"Let me guess, you two got into a relationship," Kyle replies.

"Well, yeah. It lasted a couple months, and then we got into a big fight and broke up. Caused so much drama that it got a lot of people mad at me since it was pretty much my fault and also caused the end of Supernova Failure since she and I didn't want to be on a team together and Theo wouldn't stay in the team if one of us left."

"So I can see why you don't want to be on a team with a girl on it since it'll guarantee that situation doesn't happen, but what does Skylar's femininity have to do with it?"

"Hey! Just because I play Bermuda doesn't mean I'm feminine!"

"Oh, that's simple," Francisco explains, "I've always been of the mind that a female presence on a team is vital to it's dynamic. It just doesn't feel right without it, y'know?"

"But you don't want to be on the team with a girl, so if you can't take a girl, you'll just have to find a girly guy to substitute the former with. I can see how you would arrive at that logic, even though Skylar really isn't all that feminine."

"Dude plays Bermuda Triangle and you've even figured out that he might be doing yoga. Girly enough for me."

"Ah well, as long as you have a deck," Kyle says as he draws his card and starts his turn.

 **7th Turn (Kyle's POV)**

 **Francisco**

 **Hand: 5**

 **Damage: 4**

 **Chicory (F), Cardamon (F), Mint (U), Rosemary (U)**

 **Field**

 **Back row: Oneon / Valencia / Cumin**

 **Front row: Cardamon / Anis & Star / Mint**

 **Front row: Freezernyx / Gaia Emperor / Jigsawsaurus**

 **Back row: Baby Camara /** Empty **/ Fullfire Elk**

 **Kyle**

 **Hand: 2**

 **Damage: 5**

 **Gaia Desperado (U), Rusher Erasmo (U), Savage Healer (U), Sledge Ankylo (U), Sarcoblaze (U)**

"Can he really recover?"

"Huh?" Skylar looks to Rachel.

"In just about every form conceivable, Francisco has an advantage over Kyle right now. Kyle took a massive risk just to survive the next turn because he claimed it was the only way to win this game. I'm just wondering if he can really recover," Rachel explains.

"Never count a player out of the game. Even if it looks bad, they can still make a comeback at the last minute," Skylar replies. Rachel looked back in surprise, but returned her attention to the game.

"Alright, let's finish this!" Kyle exclaims as he throws his Prism Bird into the drop zone. "Rampage and show the ignorant masses what true fury is! Stride Generation! Destruction Tyrant, Gradogigant **(G4 / 15000+)**!"

Gaia Emperor was consumed by a massive pillar of blue light, and in its place appeared a massive t-rex in purple armor. A massive, very heavily armed t-rex in purple armor. His hands were replaced by swords, and on his back were four missile launchers. If that wasn't enough, on top of the launchers were energy cannons, and that just made up Gradogigant's main weaponry.

"Well dude, that was different from the stride chant you used on Skylar," Francisco chuckles.

"Gluttony Dogma's such a special card he earned his own ride chant," Kyle smiles. "Anyways, Gaia Emperor's stride skill! Counterblast, and until the end of turn, Jigsawsaurus and Freezernyx gain the ability to be superior called from the drop zone when they're retired!"

 _This is the best that I can do given the circumstances,_ Kyle thought to himself. _If I could've, I would've rather played Gaia Dynast or Gluttony Dogma, or even Twintempest, but without another faceup card in the G-Zone, I can't get any of them of them set up._

"I'll start by attacking your vanguard with Jigsawsaurus," Kyle announces as he turns Jigsawsaurus on it's side and then flips a card on his damage zone face down. "Counterblast and retire Fullfire Elk! Cardamon retires and Jigsawsaurus gains 5000 power and an ability that says I draw if his attack hits **(9000+5000=14000) (14000-11000)**."

"Guard!" Francisco counters as he places a Lemon Witch, Limonccino onto the guard circle **(11000+10000=21000) (14000-21000)**.

Jigsawsaurus roars as the unit behind him disperses into pixels and move into Jigsawsaurus, giving him a red aura. He fires a blade from his back, impaling and killing Cardamon. However, as he began charging at Anis and Star, a witch in a black skirt and a blue and white shirt appears, shooting a bunch of lemons at Jigsawsaurus. The dinosaur thought nothing of it at the time, until the lemons started floating and surrounding him as they formed a magical cage trapping Jigsawsaurus.

"Now, I'll attack your vanguard with Freezernyx boosted by Baby Camara **(7000+5000=12000) (12000-11000)**!"

"Once more, guard!" Francisco yells as he plays Drip Witch, Rosemary **(11000+10000=24000) (24000-12000)**

As Freezernyx fires it's freeze rays, a witch in white clothing with a levitating teacup and teapot near her appears and summons a magic circle blocking the attack.

 _He's giving everything he has to defend himself. He doesn't even risk taking a fifth point of damage,"_ Kyle says in the back of his head, as the euphoria induced by the battle begins coming taking over his facial features. _If this next turn is so important to him, I'll just crush him before then!_

"Now, it's time for the climax!" Kyle announces as his hand moves towards Gradogigant. "Gradogigant attacks. Engorge! I feed Freezernyx, Baby Camara and Jigsawsaurus to Gradogigant, and he gains 5000 power for each unit he ate, a total of 15000 **(26000+15000=41000) (11000-41000)**! In addition, since he ate at least three units, I can draw a card. Now, Freezernyx's ability! Countercharge a card and then soulcharge another card. Baby Camara's generation break! Counterblast a card and superior call another Freezernyx to my back-left circle! And then ability that Gaia Emperor gave Freezernyx and Jigsawsaurus activates! I superior call Freezernyx to my front-left circle and superior call Jigsawsaurus to my front-right!"

"Wait, what!?" Rachel blinks. "He just allowed his units to feed on each other and not only profited from it but even brought them back along with a whole slew of benefits!"

"That's Kyle for you," Skylar replies. "This is what he becomes when generation break is active."

"I see… But uh, is he okay? He looks kinda…"

"He's fine. Just taking things a lot farther than he should."

 _The difference is 30000_ , Francisco realizes as he looks at his hand. _Dang it! There's not enough! I'll just have to risk it and hope he doesn't get a critical._

"No guard!" Francisco smiles as sweat rolls down the side of his face.

"Triple drive!" Kyle replies as he starts flipping his card. Almost every time Francisco was about to have a heart attack.

 **Drive check: Emperor Dragon, Gaia Emperor**

"No trigger. Next check."

 **2nd check: Frenzy Emperor Dragon, Gaia Desperado**

"No trigger. Final check."

 **Final check: Cannon Fire Dragon, Sledge Ankylo (Draw)**

"Tsk. Draw trigger. I give the power to Jigsawsaurus **(9000+5000=14000)** and I draw a card."

Gradogigant's menagerie of weaponry takes aim and fires in full force on Anis and Star, however, after all the power they were exposed to, the pair was still able to stand, even if they stood more than a little roughed up.

 **Damage check: Lemon Witch, Limonccino (Critical)**

"Critical trigger! All effects to Anis **(11000+5000=16000 / Crit 2)**!" Francisco declares, obviously content in the fact that he shut down Kyle's two Freezernyxes.

"Finally, Jigsawsaurus attacks! Counterblast one card and retire my front row Freezernyx to retire Mint and Jigsawsaurus gains 5000 power and if his attack hits I get to draw **(14000+5000=19000) (19000-16000)**! In addition, Freezernyx's ability: Countercharge and soulcharge!"

"Guard! One hit's enough for you," Francisco smiles as he drops Witch's Familiar, Shiroma **(10000+16000=26000) (19000-26000)**.

 _He actually managed to defend himself well enough to survive,_ Kyle realized.

 _Incredible. Not only did he beat down on me that harshly, he was even cautious enough to use a stride unit that would put a card back into to his hand as well as using Jigsawsaurus twice to force me to guard or risk giving him more resources to defend with. But he's only got six cards, and two are grade 3. He can't guard next turn. I almost feel bad about having to finish this but winning a close game like this is almost as good as playing one,_ Francisco smiles as he thought.

 **8th Turn (Francisco's POV)**

 **Kyle**

 **Hand: 6**

 **Faceup in G-Zone: 1**

 **1 Destruction Tyrant, Gradogigant**

 **Damage: 5**

 **Gaia Desperado (F), Rusher Erasmo (U), Savage Healer (U), Sledge Ankylo (U), Sarcoblaze (U)**

 **Field:**

 **Back row:** Empty **/** Empty **/ Freezernyx**

 **Front row: Jigsawsaurus / Gaia Emperor /** Empty

 **Front row:** Empty **/ Anis & Star / **Empty

 **Back row: Cumin / Valencia / Oneon**

 **Francisco**

 **Hand: 3**

 **Damage: 5**

 **Chicory (F), Cardamon (F), Mint (U), Rosemary (U), Limonccino (U)**

"Draw!" Francisco says as he looks at the card he drew, and then smiles profusely, and then reveals his hand all of a sudden for no reason. "You have two Grade 3s in hand, Kyle? Well guess what: I have three!"

Kyle was shocked to see one copy of Mint and two copies of Anis, but before he could say anything, Francisco throws the Mint into the drop zone and shouts out, "Come forth, pilgrim from the bewitched future and cast your spell on my fate! Stride Generation! Witch Queen of Holy Water, Clove **(G4 / 15000+)**!"

Anis and Star are enveloped in a column and in their place stands a single witch with purple eyes and purple hair who wore white and purple robes. Around her water swirled and moved almost as if it was alive. Francisco takes a moment to look at the cards in his soul and drop zone and then counts the number of cards left in his deck, which was 8.

"Now call one of my Witch of Pure Star, Anis to the front-left circle and the other to the front-right **(G3 / 11000)** and move onto my attack phase! My left Anis attacks your vanguard with a boost from Cumin **(11000+7000=18000) (18000-11000)**!"

Next to Clove two Anises appears and almost immediately one fired off three star shaped arcane bolts.

"Guard!" Kyle announces as he places down an Ancient Dragon, Dinodile **(11000+10000=21000) (18000-21000)**.

As the faux stars close in on Gaia Emperor, a giant prehistoric crocodile materializes and opens it's mouth, revealing the hidden gun in it and shooting the stars down in a matter of seconds.

"Now, my right Anis attacks your vanguard with a boost from Oneon **(11000+7000=18000) (18000-11000)**."

The other Anis summons her own stars and fires.

"Generation Guard! Barrage Giant Cannon, Bullish Primer!" Kyle announces as he places a Savage Healer in his hand into the drop zone.

"Generation Guard? Isn't that a little overboard?" Rachel questions.

"That last turn was crucial to Kyle's recovery," Skylar explains, "and since he failed to end the game that turn, it doesn't matter how strong of a guard he has to use, to Kyle as long as it stops the threat it was worth it in the end."

"I see, so Kyle's desperate. Does this mean that Francisco's pretty much won this?"

"As I said don't count Kyle out yet, but yeah. His chances are pretty much next to none, especially since we haven't even seen what Clove does yet."

"Well then, I'm out of here. You can have this back," Rachel says as she holds out a deck. Skylar looks at the bottom card and sees "Teacup Fairy, Ruhuna."

"When did you…?"

"Learn to watch your stuff more. Some people don't swipe those because they're bored and curious of what others play, you know. Then again, they'd probably throw it away the instant they saw it's clan. Later!"

Rachel's astral body disappears from the battleground as she walks off. Not that Francisco and Kyle cared. They had already forgotten that she even existed. Skylar sighs but lets her go. At least no cards seemed to be missing or replaced.

"Bullish Primer's generation break! I turn over a facedown G-Guardian and Bullish Primer gains 5000 shield for each of my empty rearguard spots. There's three empty rearguard circles which generates 15000 shield! The total shield is 30000 **(11000+30000=41000) (18000-41000)**!"

A yellow dinosaur with pieces of black armor and a massive energy cannon on it's back appears and it's cannon takes aim at the attacking Anis and fires. Anis safely dodges, but her focus is thrown off and the shooting stars disappear.

"Now the Witch Queen of Holy Water, Clove attacks with a boost from Valencia! Clove's ability, soulblast six cards!" Francisco exclaims as he chooses six cards in his soul to move into the drop zone. "Now, until the end of the turn, Clove gains a continuous ability that says that all of my witch units gain an additional 5000 power, and since I have two heart cards, Clove gains one critical until the end of turn **(31000+7000=38000 / Crit 2)**! In addition, Witch of White Rabbits, Cardamon's ability! Counterblast and superior call her to my front-left circle and she gains 2000 power until the end of turn **(14000+2000=16000)**! Then the ability of a second Cardamon! Counterblast and superior call her to my front-right circle and she gains 2000 until the end of turn. Finally, the ability of Witch of Quill Pens, Oneon! Counterblast my final card and superior call Oneon to my back-left circle and she gains 2000 power until the end of turn **(12000+2000=14000)**!"

Clove smiles as the water surrounding her coalesces into a dragon made of water. She glows blue for a moment before releasing three shining orbs that make contact with the twin Anises and Cumin and replaces them with a pair of Cardamons and an Oneon.

 _I see,_ Kyle observes, _that's what he was setting up for. He got up two solid columns to attack with while also getting some more Cardamons and Oneons into his soul so he could hit me twice with his rearguard witches and deplete my hand, and then drop Clove's ability on me to strengthen his rearguards and call new witches over his rearguard to hit me with a fourth and fifth attack._

"Perfect guard," Kyle says he places a Savage Guardian down and discards the Gaia Emperor from his drive check.

"Triple drive," Francisco smiles.

"Oh? Why so happy?" Kyle retorts.

"Because there's eight cards in my deck. And six triggers are unaccounted for. In other words…"

"There's only two normal cards left in your deck. So you've got a high chance of flipping a trigger," Kyle frowns, now fully aware of one simple fact...

"First check!"

 **Drive check: Drip Witch, Rosemary (Stand)**

"Stand trigger! I give the power to my Oneon on the back-right and she stands **(7000+5000=12000)**!"

That there was no chance….

 **2nd check: Witch of Great Talent, Laurier (Heal)**

"I heal one card and give the power to my Cardamon on the front-left **(11000+5000=16000)**!"

In heaven or hell…

 **Final check: Witch's Familiar, Shiroma (Critical)**

That was Kyle was gonna win this.

Clove launches her water dragon right at Gaia Emperor and her attack is just barely stopped by the Savage Guardian's barrier.

"I'll give all effects of the critical to my front-right Cardamon **(11000+5000=16000 / Crit 2)**. With a boost from Oneon, she attacks Gaia Emperor **(16000+12000=28000 / Crit 2)**!"

"No guard," Kyle sighs.

Cardamon releases her rabbits, who swiftly surround Gaia Emperor in a circular formation. The dinosaur is confused by this, but quickly regrets his hesitation as a magic circle forms with the rabbits at its border, releasing a pillar of bright golden light that demolishes and finishes Gaia Emperor off.

 **Damage check: Cannon Fire Dragon, Sledge Ankylo (Draw), Explosive Dragon, Sarcoblaze**

"Y- Your win," Kyle murmurs as he starts to sniffle.

"Hey man, I know that you feel obligated to do your most for the team, even if it means paying five dollars extra, but at the very least, Skylar and I won't judge you."

"Of course we won't," Skylar interjects as he approaches the two, "cause he won't be paying five bucks."

"What? But you heard the rules!" Francisco complains.

"Yes, I did. Someone has to pay what someone would pay for winning and someone has to pay what someone would pay for losing. The technicality in there is so bland it's honestly like it was made for some deux ex machina moment used in a really bad story."

"Some author somewhere is probably cursing you for that one," Francisco points out with a blank face.

"Needless to say, as long as two of us pay ten and one of us pays five and names the team it doesn't actually matter who won or lost the fight. The system's so estranged that it actually works like that. As such, both you and Kyle will pay ten, and I'll take the losing end of things."

"B- But Skylar, I _lost_ so I need to pay for that!" Kyle argues.

"But Kyle, remember our game?"

"Yeah, you won."

"No, you conceded. The difference is what matters."

The look of sudden realization dawns on Kyle's face.

"I see, it doesn't matter because it wasn't a victory earned by your hard work and effort. If I didn't concede back then, you wouldn't have won, and _that_ is what matters. So since I lost to Francisco and you lost to me, you're gonna pay!"

"Exactly!"

 _Not even remotely. I just don't have ten dollars on me and don't want to bother the bank for that small of a withdrawal if I don't have to. Not to mention a team member who'll be obsessing over whether or not they chose a bad name would be a problem. I just needed a reason stupid enough for these two to accept,_ Skylar says in the back of his head.

"Wow man! You really are a bro! So, what's the team's name?" Francisco asks, a question which cause Skylar to be lost deep in thought.

"C'mon Skylar! You got this! We'll accept the name no matter what you give!" Kyle smiles.

"Hmm… Hmmm… Mmh… Got it!" Skylar declares, a moment so exciting that it gave Kyle and Francisco chills. "WLB!"

Kyle and Francisco fall in awe, and it's Kyle who is the first to speak.

"I see! An abbreviation! Amazing! People will question what it means and so when someone finally says it's meaning it'll have all the more impact!"

"Oh! That makes sense, man. So Skylar, what _does_ it mean?"

"We Lost a Bet."

"Huh?" Kyle and Francisco both exclaim with blank faces.

"Think about it: I made a bet with Kyle, and I lost it and so the team was formed. And then, as if that wasn't enough, we decided who would name the team by whoever lost another bet. Given everything that's happen and all that we've done, WLB seems to be the best name available to us. Not to mention, we're a Tachikaze player, a Bermuda Triangle player and a Genesis player. The first two of those are clans who've never been on a team that's won the PCCT, and Bermuda has never been on a team that's gotten past the PCCT's prelims. Even furthermore, I've never seen a Genesis witch deck at all, let alone inside of the PCCT. It looks like we all actually lost a bad bet."

Francisco and Kyle blink, but then bust out laughing.

"I thought you couldn't pick a bad name for the team," Kyle begins, "and I was more than dead on, you did a better job than I could've done."

"Well, I guess this is it then. We've got a team with a name and three members, so I guess we're ready," Francisco smiles. "I think we got this one. We could probably even take on an Californian team!"

"Californian? Um, sorry, but I'm confused about what Californians have to do with this," Kyle questions.

"You don't know?" Francisco asks.

"He's from New York. It only makes sense he wouldn't know the meta for the PCCT," Skylar explains.

"Uh, I asked for answers, guys. Not riddles," Kyle complains.

"In short, Kyle, there are three states with the largest player base in the US," Skylar starts. "These states are California, Florida and Maine. Of those three, two are the most competitive states in the US: California and Florida, and the players from there have a lot of experience considering how heated their local meta games can get. The PCCT covers Oregon, Washington State and California, meaning that most of the teams the pass the prelims are from Californians, and they'll be ones who are most likely to give us a run for our money."

"Oh, I understand. In short, they're the teams we have to watch out for," Kyle replies.

"Yep, but it goes further than that: Remember that friend I mentioned earlier?"

"You mean the Felix guy you haven't beaten in two years?"

"Yeah, that's the one. He told me the other day that his team, Headless Chickens, have decided to try participating in the PCCT this year for the first time since they formed. I can't say for sure, but I think that if we can make it in there, then they easily could make it as well."

"I see. So Headless Chickens and the Californian teams. I wonder how the meta's gonna shape up to be this year," Kyle wonders.

"Regardless of the meta, 'Cisco!" Skylar shouts. "Play me! I wanna see a little more of that strategy of yours."

"Don't even need to give a reason, I'd play you regardless!" Francisco smiles as he takes his deck and starts setting up.

* * *

 **Monterey, California**

"Paing! Paing! _Paing_!"

The door opens and a little girl pops her head out to meet one of the weirdest guys she's ever seen. He had blue eyes and ridiculously long, although he bangs were short for some reason, hair he died blue, and wore a green hoodie even though it was far too hot and humid in Monterey for that as well dark brown slacks and shiny black slip-on shoes. That was normal, at least, but what was weird was the broom he had in his hand, one of those old wooden ones.

"Hi there, little girl," the man with the broom says. "I'm looking for a classmate of mine named Paing. Would he happen to be here?"

The little girl slams the door on him, immediately followed by the sound of arguing, but a minute after a boy the broom guy's age opens the door and steps out. He had black hair, really dark brown eyes and tan skin and wore a black shirt under an unzipped grey coat with a pair of jean and blue sneakers and black socks.

"Sorry about that Theo, that was my sister."

"Oh, that's fine. Let's start heading out!"

"What's on the agenda for today?" Paing asks Theo as they walk down the hall, treating the fact that Theo was always sweeping the ground in front of him like it was completely normal.

"Well, we already got the ball rolling for Team Nice People, we just gotta find a third member, but that shouldn't be an immediate concern since the shop tournament I want to go to is on the day before the prelims start. So, I guess then, for now we should work on improving our skill. After all, that's what they'll be scoring us on for the prelims, and honestly I want to make it in by a Total Finish anyways."

"Hmm, okay," Paing shrugs.

"Don't worry about it Paing, you're amazing at this game. And besides, I have a general idea what they're gonna score us on thanks to the last time I went to the PCCT."

Paing looked at Theo, although he could only see his teammate's back from where he was. For a moment, Paing recalled the story Theo told him of his last team that was broken up by some boy's stupid mistake. If Paing recalled right, it was named Team Supernova Failure.

* * *

 **Angel Peak, Oregon**

Annie Carmichael walks back into her apartment exhausted from a day of work. She opens the fridge, takes out a can of Pepsi, and downs it in five gulps so she can start complaining about being the local school's guidance counselor. Or, she would've as per her usual schedule, if the phone hadn't suddenly rang in the middle of her third gulp.

"Uh, yes? Hello? Who is this?"

" _Oh thank god, this is still your number. Annie, it's me, Miranda._ "

"Miranda!? You haven't called in so long!"

" _Don't shout into the phone!_ "

"Oh, sorry."

" _It's fine, and I'm sorry for the silence, but I need to ask you for a favor._ "

"Alright, what is it?"

" _I can't say over the phone. Leonard has a shop in Angel Peak, right?_ "

"Yeah, it's called Farmer's."

" _Meet me there. Right now._ "

"You mean you're in Angel Peak at this moment!?"

" _Talk to you later. Bye, Annie._ "

Annie is met with the sound of silence as Miranda hangs up. She blinks for a moment, and then rushes to the bathroom to make sure her makeup is on right, an action she instantly regretted as she began critiquing every little thing about her. Blue eyes, brown hair, which felt to her too common, and at 5'6" she felt she was so short that she had to always wear high heels. She was also wearing her usual attire for working at the school: A black skirt with white polka dots and a white button up under a khaki cardigan. She wanted to change for her meeting with Miranda, but she didn't have the time, so she just grabbed her old deck, which had gathered quite a bit of dust, and ran off to Leonard's shop.

On the other end of the line, Miranda puts her phone into her pocket and looks out of the car's window. The man driving the car, Manuel, looks to her and then back out onto the road. He noted for a minute her shoulder length red hair and her blue eyes, as well as her business outfit of a white button up with a black suit and black slack. She stood out like a sore thumb compared to him, who wore a polo with the Vanguard Association's symbol on it and khaki pants, as well as having his hair dyed bright purple and cut in a bowl cut. He ponders if it's safe to talk for a minute, but then finally opens his mouth.

"Are you sure you want your old friends involved? After all, isn't it a little too mean to run from them for years and then ask such important things from them?"

"Not really," Miranda retorts. "We've no idea what this Eurydice project the Wish Master's up to is gonna do. There's no shame in asking someone who lives on Earth to help avert a possible tragedy on the planet. Hell, it should be an obligation for the person on the other end, not a favor."

"And here I thought we lived in America," Manuel shrugs, almost crashing into a black car that was speeding along as it blasted J-pop music.

"Holy cow! Felix, what are you doing!?" Charlotte, the brunette woman with amber eyes wearing a blue dress and black boots sitting in the back seat of the speeding car, snaps at the driver. Jacob, the young looking boy with brown eyes and hair died pink and wearing a yellow long sleeve with jeans and black and yellow sneakers, simply sat down in shotgun smiling out of the shock caused by the several near death experiences he just had.

"Heheh, ready guys? Headless Chickens, roll out!" Felix roars as he races along the road. Drivers would complain about a latino who wore a grey shirt with a red and white coat and black slacks who drove like a maniac for the next three years.

* * *

 **Back at the Angel's Mystery**

Skylar blinked in shock. It wasn't enough that he lost, but Francisco had to beat him 6-3. Skylar tried to analyze everything that had happened again and again until it made sense, and even then, he couldn't fully understand it.

"Well, that was a good game, Skylar!" 'Cisco smiles.

"Y- Yeah. It was."

"Alright you two, I'll give you a ride back down into Angel Peak. Tomorrow's Friday so we can meet at school then, but you guys wanna exchange phone numbers so we can meet over the weekend after tomorrow?"

"Okay," Kyle replies as he tells Francisco his number.

 _I've got a lot to do,_ Skylar thought. _If I can't even beat my own teammates, how do I beat competitive players?_

"Skylar."

"..."

"Skylar!"

"Huh?" Skylar exclaims as he snaps back into focus.

"Phone number?" Francisco asks.

"Oh yeah, just one second," Skylar says as he takes his phone out.

* * *

 **Once more, thanks to FanOfKings for pointing out the problems in this chapter so I can fix them. I can't do my best to give a quality story without things like that to find mistakes that I missed!**

 **Now for this chapter's avatar card:**

 **Witch of Pure Star, Anis - Grade 3 / POW: 11000**

 **Legion 20000 "Witch of Aster, Star"**

 **[Auto] VC [1/Turn]: [CB1] When your card with "Witch" in its card name is put into the drop zone from the soul, you may pay the cost. If you do call that card to RC, and if this unit is Legion, draw a card.**

 **[Auto] VC: [SB3] When your unit with "Witch" in its card name is placed on RC during the turn that this unit Legion, you may pay the cost. If you do, Countercharge 1 / Soulcharge 1.**

 **Once more, major shout out to the Cardfight! Wiki.**

 **It's really, really hard to say that Francisco has an avatar card. Simply put, he isn't the type to attach himself to any card, meaning that he doesn't develop the connection a character would normally have with what they consider their avatar. Anis is probably the closest you're gonna get as it is his first card and it's the reason he plays witches as well as the core of his strategy. He's the type of person who likes to set their combo pieces down on the field and then play a massive combo that can change the game. Anis is the best card to set up his favorite combo, what he calls his Thousand Voices, which is done via the loop her ability creates in combination with soul charge effects like Valencia and Grappa and superior call effects like Cardamon and Onion. However, he may not always play witches, since his impartial nature would allow him to easily switch from one strategy to another, not to mention he really honestly doesn't play witches the way they're usually played, which is a stall tactic that uses Legion to alter the deck until there's only triggers left.**

 **Honestly though, making Francisco's deck made me cry so much. This wasn't his original deck, but after I looked at his deck after publishing chapter 1, I realized it one of those not-so-fun decks that really only villains should play because if they're used more than twice it's boring. So I spent a few days making a whole new deck for him (Which now uses the Cray Elemental guys so…) and I really wanted to do the Myth Guard strat, but there is literally no support for it even though it's strategy is awesome on paper. Like seriously, if they could just pump some actual life into those guys, 'Cisco would play it in a heartbeat. But sadly, I'm not yet at the point where I'd be willing to introduce fanmade cards, so yeah. Now, after crying a bucket of tears for the Myth Guards, 'Cisco plays witches.**

 **Anyways, same old shpiel as before: If there's something you would like to see me improve on, you know just some constructive criticism or the like, do tell, please. It would really go a long way. If you have an idea for a deck or even your own OC, feel free to message me it.**

 **Now that the main team's introduced, and now that I've changed the formatting for the PCCT so there's more than four big teams (Just gonna try slipping that in without ya'll noticing like a boss), I'll be taking a small moment to binge watch Next and compare some things as well as get caught up in my classes. It really shouldn't be too long, may be a week or so, and after that I'll start writing the third chapter, but just so you know what's going on if it crosses your mind. I'm gonna be giving some progress reports on my profile page if in case you get curious, but enough rambling. This chapter has already exceeded 12.6 thousand words.**

 **Once more, sorry if your OC didn't appear, and later guys!**


	3. The missing card ?

**Hi there. Been a while.**

 **So, we've gone from K+ to T, felt like it was the best thing possible.**

 **Took a while to make this chapter, and I'm sorry about that. Can't really give an excuse except being hit by a car and really all that did was give me a bad wrist.**

 **Caught up on the series now. Also sorta caught up on school work. Everything is gold.**

 **I'm gonna stop beating around the bush here and tell you all one simple fact: I'm an idiot. Let me tell you why.**

 **Apparently, Baby Camara does more than tutor out any grade 1. It also gives said grade 1 +3000 pow. I did not assign power. That's not actually all the bad. Also, Freezernyx gives +2000 pow. I forgot that as well, but that's not bad either.**

 **What** _ **is**_ **bad is that Jigsawsaurus's ability only works when boosted, and while there are moments when I can just say he was boosted, there are moments when I can't.**

 **Not really worth it to go and fix all of this for now (Although definitely will be editing it some time in the distant future), but now ya'll know why I'm in the corner crying.**

 **Finally, the character Serena Di Vaio was made and submitted to by user franciskanneh007, and the deck she uses, while not showcased in it's entirety this chapter or even in an official, formatted fight, was also made by franciskanneh007.**

 **In addition, just want to give a shoutout to user James95 for submitting no less than 19 decklists. Seriously, give the guy a round of applause. Now, onto the chapter!**

* * *

"Agh! C'mon, Francisco, don't do this to me!" Kyle grumbles as he looked down at his phone.

Things really weren't going Kyle's way today. For some odd reason that was never explained, and by God's will would never be explained, a lot of the classes swapped their lunchtimes for today. While Kyle was spared from this, Skylar wasn't, and Francisco wasn't replying to Kyle's texts so no one knew what was going on with him. This meant that the meeting that WLB planned to hold before the weekend began was, at the very least, postponed for later today.

Normally, this wouldn't have been a problem for Kyle, as he, unlike Skylar who all the other students still call emo, actually had no problems making friends so long as he kept the more spirited and hyper side of his personality in check. But Kyle's other friends were also swept up by this sudden switch in lunch schedules, and Kyle didn't want to waste his time talking to new people. This meant logically that Kyle would need to sit down at an empty table and wait for this to all blow over. However, all of the tables in the cafeteria were taken, Kyle couldn't use the outside tables because to pile even more problems onto the ones he already had it was raining outside, and Kyle couldn't use the library since the librarian told WLB they couldn't eat in the library for the rest of the week after the racket they caused yesterday.

Hold on a minute… Hallelujah!

Kyle spots a table in the far corner of the cafeteria that was empty, just hard to see with all of the people. Or, at least, as Kyle moved towards it he thought it was empty, a thought that was very quickly dismissed when Kyle spots a young-looking boy sitting there by himself. The kid wore a yellow long sleeve shirt, blue jeans and sneakers that were black and yellow. He had chestnut brown eyes and ear length hair that was dyed a bright, vibrant pink. And as pointed out before, he looked _incredibly_ young. Kyle wouldn't have believed he was a high school student if it wasn't for the fact he was doing homework from the sophomore math class, meaning that unless he was just a really smart kid, this boy was a year younger than Kyle. Kyle noted that from his facial expression this kid was also having the same problem as Kyle, even if he was trying to hide it by doing his work. No matter, he was the only one at the table, meaning that everything would still work out like how Kyle wanted it to.

"Hey, mind if I sit here?" Kyle asks him as he reaches the table.

The boy looks up, and then all of a sudden a bright and annoyingly cheery expression appears on his face.

"Yes!" he smiles excitedly.

 _God, please don't tell me I stepped on a landmine,_ Kyle thinks as he sits down, as if forgetting how often he's done the same creepy personality change to other people.

"My name's Jacob! Jacob Waltz! Who're you?" the boy smiles, alarming Kyle with his excessive cheerfulness and just how straightforward and spontaneous he was, normally not bad traits in Kyle's eyes but the kid did, for absolutely no good reason, just drop his last name like it was the greatest thing ever.

"Uh, Kyle."

"Alright. So, Kyle, did you get caught up in the lunch change?"

"No. My friends did apparently, but this is my regular lunch time."

"Oh. That's sad. It's not mine. Looks like today's the only day we get to hang out."

 _Well, looks like I made a friend. I can't say I'm happy about it, but oh well. Why the hell should I resist it?_ Kyle shrugs.

"Where are your other friends?" Kyle asks.

"Y- You assumed I have friends?" Jacob mutters with tears in his eyes.

"You don't?"

"No, I do. But for some reason everyone else calls me a creep and assumes I'm all on my own. You're the first person who thought I had friends," Jacob smiles.

"Ooookay. Well, where are those friends?"

"Oh. They got to stay at the same lunch period they always do. I'm the only one among us who had to switch," Jacob murmurs sadly.

 _It's either mania or depression with this guy. Even I'm not this bad. I'm just crazy, but this guy is literally a little kid,_ Kyle blinks.

"How are those friends?" Kyle replies, deciding to continue on with the conversation regardless.

"Oh. They hate- Oh no."

"What's wrong?"

"I just remembered they hate each other. It's never that bad since I'm there with them most of the time, but today I'm not. Someone's probably gonna die today. Seriously, just yesterday all I did was buy them both a Dr. Pepper and they were almost about to kill each other over how one prefers coca-cola and the other prefers pepsi."

"Uh huh. Must be hard hanging out with friends like that."

"Not really. Those two are the only ones who'll hang out with me and play with me. So long as I stand between them to prevent a murder, there's no one else I'd rather hang out with."

 _He's also surprisingly honest. I can't say that he's normal, but at least he doesn't seem bad,_ Kyle says in the back of his mind.

"'Play?' Do you three play some kind of video game?" Kyle asks.

"Not a video game. We play a card game. Well, I mean, I also play a lot of online card games like Duelyst and all, but the one we play is in person. It's absolutely amazing, and we can fight in teams and stuff."

"Really now? Sounds fun."

"Yep! And guess what? I'm the team's leader!" Jacob smiles.

"But no one else in town plays this?"

"No, there are others, but… Well… No one _wants_ to play me."

"Huh. That's a little depressing. You know what, I play a lot of card games myself. If you could share it's name I'll play you."

"Really?" Jacob exclaims with wide eyes.

"Yeah."

"That's awesome! The game's-"

"Kyle!" a voice shouts from the door out of the cafeteria, grabbing the attention of Jacob and Kyle, who were both equally surprised to see that the shouter was Francisco, although Kyle didn't notice that Jacob was surprised in a completely different way than he'd expect.

"Francisco? Where were you? My texts weren't getting through to you," Kyle presses.

"My apologies, I turned my phone off during class and forgot to turn it back off. Anyways, where's Skylar?" Francisco asks as he looks over and notices Jacob.

"Hi," Jacob smiles.

"Skylar got caught up in the lunch period swap, so he can't join us for today. Why, is there something important going on?"

"Well, yeah. The Portland War."

"Portland War?"

"It's a tournament for a game named Cardfight! Vanguard," Jacob explains. "It's the only tournament in Oregon that get three tickets for the PCCT. Simply put, the teams that take top 3 get to go to the PCCT."

"Jacob? You know about Vanguard?" Kyle asks out of surprise.

"It's also notably popular as it's always the first PCCT tournament to open for each season. As such, it even draws in teams that have even won the PCCT before," Jacob continues on like it was nothing, completely ignoring Kyle's question. "It was held last night, with third place being team Too Lazy For A Name holding a total score of 12 wins and 5 losses, team Phoenix Rage holding a score of 12 wins and 3 losses, and team Headless Chickens holding a score of 14 wins and no losses, with member Charlotte Grey holding seven wins and member Felix Vasquez holding the other seven. The leader of Headless Chickens didn't play a single game."

"Jacob, why are you talking about yourself in third person?" Francisco points out.

"Francisco? You know Jacob?"

"Well, it was fun, Kyle, but it seems you and Francis have a lot to talk about," Jacob says he gets up, having a face that Kyle noted as being incredibly amused and interested in something. "By the way, Kyle, the game my friends and I play is Vanguard."

"So you really do play it," Kyle replies.

"Mm-hmm. I even have videos of Felix and Charlotte playing, something the Portland War website doesn't share. If you get a PCCT ticket, find me, I'll be glad to share them with you. Later."

As Jacob walks away, Kyle realizes something and immediately looks to Francisco.

"Hey, Francisco! What'd you mean when you asked Jacob why he was talking about himself in third person?"

"Huh? You mean you don't know?"

"Don't know what?"

"Well, that's odd. I didn't point it out because I thought you were talking to Jacob cause you knew, man," Francisco begins as he sits down. "He's the team leader for Headless Chickens."

It was on that day that Francisco learned what it was like for Kyle to truly be mad.

* * *

 **The next lunch period**

Serena took a deep breath to calm herself. The girl with lavender, waist length hair and purple eyes sat awkwardly, not aware of how bad the grip on the cards in her hand was. She couldn't tell for sure as he didn't say anything, but Serena had the feeling that her opponent was aware of how awkward a crowd was for her and that was probably why he chose a table in the corner to play and even sat in a position where Serena could sit down and play with her back to all of the other students. Even then, it still felt a little weird, and Serena had to fight the urge to grip her black hoodie or the purple shirt underneath. It was already bad enough after all that her opponent had to keep telling her to lift her head up so she stared at her hand and the field and not her purple skirt or her opaque black tights and ankle boots.

"Alright," Serena breathes, trying to get into the zone. "I'll start this turn by activating Star-Vader, Dark Zodiac's ability. I discard another Star-Vader, Dark Zodiac and your Steam Tamer, Nanni and your Steam Maiden, Shag-kusa lock."

"Huh. Surprising you'd lock Shag-kusa considering she lost her boost ability."

"Well, uh, I had to target a back-row rearguard and I was thinking you'd probably intercept with the unit in front of her and then move her to the front and call a rearguard to boost with behind her. And that if you didn't do that, well, you know, you're using a deck based on Chronofang Tiger. They only recently started printing Gear Chronicle in English after that one Japanese guy with the cinnamon swirl hair started using it, so I can't be sure as this is my first time playing against it, but I thought that maybe you'd probably bind her to pay for some kind of a cost or something."

"It was a joke, Serena," her opponent, a boy named Skylar, replies. It wasn't, but at that rate she was gonna die of a heart attack, and to be fair, once she pointed out exactly what Skylar was gonna do, he came to realize it was actually a good play.

"Oh. Sorry."

"You're fine. I'm just surprised that you're so calm even with that friend of yours."

"Hehe. Yeah. She can be a little out there sometimes."

A "little out there" wasn't enough in Skylar's eyes. He could still remember quite vividly his encounter with Serena's friend. Lunch had just started, and he was relieved to no end that he got to spend it free of Kyle. Skylar had met Kyle only this Wednesday and he was exhausted from his numerous encounters with the man. Skylar struggled to remember why he agreed to join WLB when he clearly didn't want to be on the team, but yet oddly enough he couldn't remember, and despite his behavior he didn't regret the decision nor wish to leave it.

 _Wait a minute, doesn't that make me some kind of dumbed down tsundere? No no, let's not think about that. Anything but that. Tsundere's are the bane of all romance animes, I cannot forgive them, let alone become one of them. Hold on, did I compare my life to a romance anime even when there's no girl to pursue? Alright, looks like I need to mentally train myself. I'm pulling out the Broadway romances when I get home,_ Skylar mentally ranted to himself as he reached the snack line.

In Angel Peak High School, there were four lines: One was the specials line where they gave out the daily lunch specials, another was the grill line where they gave out different meals for students who didn't like the day's specials, the third was the salad line which was self explanatory and the final was the snack line, which actually sold all kinds of things like milk cartons and lunch items. It didn't take free lunch but it was a go-to if someone wanted a lunch that was a little more customized for their liking.

However, when he arrived, he was met with one of the most impatient looking girls he'd ever seen. She had amber eyes and curly brown shoulder length hair. She dressed kinda of formally with a grey button up shirt and a navy blue knee length skirt as well as knee-high black boots. Skylar noted that she looked kinda pretty, but she had this expression on her face that looked like she'd slug him if he tried to point it out.

The girl returns his gaze and then says, "No cutting."

"Huh?"

"No cutting."

"I thought this was the end of the line," Skylar replies with a blank face.

"Good, as long as you understand that, you're fine. But take a step past me and I'll have your skull."

"You'll _have my skull_? Are you sure that's something you should be saying so seriously in a public school?" Skylar questions as he looks at the people in front of the girl. There were only two.

The girl turns away in contempt, before smiling into the distance.

"Serena!" she smiles and waves to another girl, Serena, in the distance. "Over here!"

Serena hurries over to the line where her friend was waiting, but as she tried to get in line behind Skylar, the girl pulled Serena to the space next to her. Skylar blinked in slight annoyance at this, thinking about how incredibly hypocritical it was for it to be fine for the girl and her friends to cut other people but not the way around. Even then, he didn't feel like pointing it out.

"Oh, uh, Charlotte! I got this yesterday and I wanted to give it to you," Serena smiles as she hands the girl, Charlotte, a card. Much to Skylar's surprise, it was a Vanguard card.

"Woah! Are you sure, Serena? This is, well…"

"It's fine. I pulled it out of an old booster pack my brother gave me a few days ago and I remembered you were looking for one. Besides, I don't really play that clan anyways."

Skylar, out of curiosity looks over to see what card it was, and blinks in surprise. It was a Maelstrom card. This Serena girl really was out of her mind to give something so rare away without so much as a second thought. But there was something a little more important right now.

"Um, pardon me," Skylar begins as he points past her, "you're up."

"Huh?" Charlotte blinks as she looks to where Skylar was pointing at, before realizing that there was no one else in front of her in line.

"Oh! Hahaha! Thanks for catching that one," Charlotte laughs as she goes up to the lunch lady and begins her order. "I'll have two things of chicken nuggets, a slice of pizza, three cookies and a carton of chocolate milk."

The lunch lady blinks in surprise, but gets the order ready as Charlotte hugs Serena, "Thank you! I can't wait till I show Felix I have the full collection before I shove a foot up his! Oh wait, I see him right now! Later!"

"Wait a minute! Did you just say Felix!?" Skylar exclaims, but far too late. The lunch lady had already put Charlotte's lunch out, and the young girl almost immediately took it and ran off to one of the cafeteria's exits where a latino boy who looked like he was in his 20's and not a high school student with spiky hair, a red and white coat, black slacks and white sneakers waited for her.

"Well, looks like she's off to play some more rounds with Felix again. Sometimes I really do wish she'd play a few more times with me. Oh! I'm sorry, but I actually eat a packed lunch. You can go ahead," Serena apologizes to Skylar as she begins to walk away.

"Actually, hold on!" Skylar interjects.

It was then that Skylar challenged Serena to a game. Normally, he wouldn't have done such a thing, but Skylar remembered Felix's name from Francisco's explanations to Kyle from yesterday, as well the whole deal with Headless Chickens. Skylar didn't know for sure whether or not the Headless Chickens would be in the PCCT yet since he hadn't heard the news from Kyle and Francisco yet, but if they really presented enough of a threat that WLB should be scared of them, then he wanted to know what they were like. Well, that Charlotte girl had ran off before he could get a chance to challenge her, but if her friend had played her a few times, then surely that would come as good enough of a replacement.

Well, so he thought. Serena was by no means a bad player, but she didn't have nearly the level of skill that Francisco claimed the Headless Chickens did. To be fair, she had explained that she was not a member of Headless Chickens herself and that she had a bad win-loss record with Charlotte, just like Francisco and Felix. But it was no big deal. She was practice, and presented a challenge for Skylar: How will he deal with Lock when it came up in a tournament? Of course, he actually had several solutions, since he encountered Lock a number of times before now, granted he couldn't recall when he first encountered it and it didn't help he didn't use his Bermuda Triangle deck for any of those cases, but he was still able to theorize and come up with ideas.

"So, Skylar, can I ask a question?" Serena politely implores.

"Uh, sure. What's up?"

"You said you've been playing since you were a little kid."

"Yeah, back in kindergarten, actually."

"And Gear Chronicle is a new clan, isn't it? So that means it's not your original deck, right?"

"W- Well, I uh…"

"So what _is_ your original deck?"

 _You had to ask what it is and not if I have it on me!? That makes all the difference, damn it! I can't just tell a girl I play a deck full of moe mermaid J-Pop idols! Honestly, I'd prefer to avoid it if at all possible! Seriously, I'd rather lie and say I enjoyed watching Asterisk War well before confessing I play Bermuda Triangle if I don't have to,_ Skylar grimaces as he tries to figure out what to do.

"Haha. Uh… You see… Uhm… It's a trade secret! If you're gonna go into a tournament, you're gonna wanna save your trump card for when it's time to play it, right?"

"Really? I never thought of it like that."

"W- Well, that's how it is!"

"So different from what Charlotte tells me."

"Huh?"

"Well, you see, Charlotte always tells me if you're not playing seriously 100% of the time, you're insulting your opponent."

 _Why do I seriously feel like I'm the bad guy now?_ Skylar complains in the back of his head.

"That's right, Serena! You tell him off!" Charlotte mutters under her breath while she hides from Skylar and Serena behind the wall leading to the door to the girl's bathroom.

"So, uhm, Charlotte, why are you eavesdropping on those two?" Felix awkwardly asks as he smiles at a girl who passes by.

"I can't trust this guy near Serena! He could be some kind of a pervert who plays Bermuda Triangle or something!" Charlotte replies.

Felix sighs. Things were going perfectly fine even with Jacob being sent to the other lunch period until Charlotte saw that Skylar boy approach Serena and sent Charlotte into instant stalker mode, with Felix being dragged along because "I need muscle if I decide to break his face in." Normally, it wouldn't have actually been a problem for Felix, even if he was hiding with Charlotte, since he liked watching card fights, but there was just one problem...

"But couldn't we hide near the _boy's_ bathroom? My integrity is being questioned just by standing here."

"Your existence is what's questionable," Charlotte snaps. "Besides, we can't hide near the boy's bathroom, those two would be able to see us from that angle. Just deal with it. Girls don't really have a high opinion of you to begin with."

"Actually, there's a few who would argue against that."

"Alright, Skylar," Serena smiles. "It's your turn, all four of your rearguards are omega locked, so they don't unlock on your end phase."

 _Which means I can drop Venom Dancer next turn and go for the win,_ Serena says in the back of her head.

"Thanks for the reminder, but I won't even get to my end phase this turn!" Skylar smiles. "Chronofang Tiger's ability! Luckypot Dracokid gains three grades when I discard it for a stride cost, but it binds face up afterwards! Stride generation! Chronotiger Gear Glare! Gear Glare's generation break 3! I have eleven cards in my bind zone, so Chronotiger Gear Glare gets 10000 power, one critical and drive plus one! I active Chronotiger Gear Glare's other ability! Soulblast one card and turn a facedown Chronotiger Gear Glare in my G-Zone face up! I choose a number of your rearguards with a total grade less than or equal to the number of cards in my bind zone and you put them on the bottom of your deck in any order. The total grade of all five of your rearguards is only seven, so I'll send them all down to the bottom! Then I call Night-barking Gear Tabby to my rear-left circle. Chronotiger Gear Glare attacks! Gear Tabby's ability! I move him into my soul, draw one card and Gear Glare gets 5000 power!"

 _His power's 41000, with a critical of two and an incoming quadruple drive,_ Serena analyzes. _I have four cards in hand, and none are perfect guards. In addition, one of them is Venom Dancer, and even if he did have shields, I wouldn't want to use him. Total shield among the remaining three cards is 25000, not enough to guard against Gear Glare, and he sent all of my interceptors to the bottom of my deck. But that also raises another issue: I don't have a board for Venom Dancer to use anymore. If I used all of the cards in my hand to guard, I'd lose anyways. I'm currently at four damage, so all I can do is hope for the best and hope my second damage check is a heal trigger. That's assuming he doesn't pull out a critical._

"No guard," Serena replies, biting her lip anxiously.

"Quadruple drive! No trigger, no trigger, no trigger and finally… Critical! All effects to Gear Glare!"

"Damage check! No trigger and… No trigger. Good game," Serena smiles.

"Alrighty then. I'm gonna head out, Serena, I've got some things I want to do," Skylar replies, taking a quick breath of relief as he packed up. If Serena had played a perfect guard, things might've gotten awkward.

"Okay. Careful out there! It's still raining pretty harshly."

As Skylar walks off, Serena couldn't help thinking one thing.

 _I want to see his main deck._

"C'mon Felix! We gotta sneak now so that Serena doesn't notice us!" Charlotte says she tugs on Felix's arm.

"We're finally going away from the girl's bathroom? Thank god," Felix exclaims as he slips away with Charlotte, who follows Skylar out of the cafeteria without his notice.

The day was far from over for Serena, however. As she began to pack up her cards, someone began walking up to her, although she didn't notice until said person spoke.

"Uh, pardon me. Serena, is it?"

Serena turned around to see none other than Annie Carmichael, the school guidance counselor.

"M- Ms. Carmichael! You scared me," Serena muttered.

"My apologies. I just couldn't help but notice you playing with that boy. Can I assume you enjoy that game?"

"Well, yes."

"Then would you mind me asking a small favor on behalf of a friend?" Ms. Carmichael smiles.

* * *

Skylar finishes organizing his cards, both the ones from his main deck and the cards he was looking at putting into the deck. Charlotte tried to get a look at the clan, but not only was she too far to properly see the art, but Skylar had all of the cards arranged face down so that he didn't need to worry about anyone passing by the table in the library he sat at and noticing what he was doing. Not to mention Felix wasn't helping very much since he got bored and slipped away before Charlotte noticed it.

 _Let's start with the easy part: The grade 1s,_ Skylar began. _I would like to try and keep this as pure PRISM as possible, but my deck's primary combo can consume a fourth of my grade three base being done only once. That means I might want to run a few copies of Shandee, but who do I take out? Emeral seems to be a very awkward fit here, actually, so running four of her may be a bad idea. I should probably drop her to just one at most, which means I have three spaces open, just the right number for Shandee. What about the fourth Emeral? Do I keep her, and if not, what do I replace her with? Do I add a fourth Princess Leyte? No. Princess Leyte's countercharge is a blessing but her ability to prevent her from being normal called after it activates means that I should run no more than three, and even that might be too large of a number. No, let's keep the grade 1s with just -3 Emeral and +3 Shandee for now, and I can revisit the subject later. Now for today's main debate._

As Charlotte tries to sneak behind the bookshelves to Skylar's back so she can get a view of the cards, Skylar picks up one card from one pile and another card from a different one. One of those cards was Teacup Fairy, Ruhuna and the other was PRISM-Miracle, Timor, who was the only PRISM heal trigger. It was a subject that had been tearing into Skylar since well before he even moved to Oregon, and was particularly becoming worrisome now that he had a tournament to get ready for.

 _They're both vanilla heals, but one has the PRISM name, which can make all the difference in a sub-clan deck,_ Skylar says in the back of his mind while he puts down the cards back on the table face down, eliciting a silent, unheard curse from Charlotte who didn't get to see the cards. _At the same time, no matter how hard I try, I just can't seem to drop Ruhuna. It's frankly nonsensical as she's just a card, but that's how it is. However, such a thing is gonna bite me in the ass during the PCCT, and I can't have that. I need to lose the attachment before it becomes a problem. Oh well. What did Serena run again? Dark Zodiac? What was her goal? Let's look it up._

Charlotte observed Skylar spend the next five minutes on his phone as he researches general Dark Zodiac decklists and playstyles. Once he finishes, he puts his phone away, gathers up his deck, shuffles, and then begins playing even when there's no one else to play against. He played all of his cards face down, took damage like he was really getting hit by attacks, but when Charlotte tried to look into his imagination through the shared mental network in Angel Peak, she couldn't see anything. It wasn't until he started moving his cards to a tilt that she realized what he was doing: He was playtesting against an imaginary foe that used a Dark Zodiac deck just like Serena did. Every time he tilted a card he was locking it just like Serena would've done to him, and Charlotte could tell as those were maneuvers that Serena had done to her. To have been able to recreate her playstyle after only playing one game, this Skylar dude was more than he let on. But, unfortunately, it would be over soon as he found himself in the toughest spot he could have been in: All of his cards were locked.

Five cards on the field, and all five were not only locked, but omega locked, or should be if Charlotte was envisioning the same scenario as Skylar. He was bouncing a lot of them back to his hand, an action that Charlotte couldn't figure out how he was doing as she had never seen such an ability before, but eventually the power of the imaginary Serena's control caught up to him and lead to a complete lockdown of his field. Yet, for some reason, Skylar didn't seem phased. If anything, he seemed amused. He dropped a card face down into his drop, an action that Charlotte figured out was paying a stride cost, and moved another card from his G-Zone to his vanguard facedown. All of sudden, he slides another two cards in his damage zone, which Charlotte figured to be counter blasting, and moved another card in his G-Zone from one pile to another, an action that mimicked turning it face up.

Charlotte stared intensely to see what ability he activated when he started picking his cards up one by one and putting them back into his hand. Charlotte thought, for a moment, that he may be giving up, until he started putting them back on the board. He didn't give up, _he returned locked cards to his hand._ Charlotte checked her rules knowledge, and determined that she had no idea what just happened. When a unit locks, it ceases being a unit and the rearguard circle becomes a locked circle. In short, unless an ability specifically states to return a _card_ and not a unit to the owner's hand, that move wouldn't have been possible. Skylar refilled his field, attacked, and began collecting his cards, indicating that he just won the match. He shuffles his deck soon after, and begins playing again, but this time his moves indicated he wasn't playing Serena's deck.

 _Alright, Charlotte, this is it! No more stalking! We're gonna handle this directly!_ Charlotte agrees with herself.

As Skylar places and moves his cards, Charlotte comes out from behind the bookshelf and starts walking towards Skylar's table. Skylar doesn't notice, which not only aggravates her a little, but prompts her to speak first.

"So, who are you playing this time?"

"Kyle. Wait a minute!" Skylar exclaims as he realizes someone was talking to him.

"Kyle?" Charlotte asks.

"Can you not sneak up on me!?" Skylar replies.

"Let me try this again. Kyle?"

"He's my team leader. Now can we get back to the important thing? How did you…?"

"I saw you play Serena. I wanted to know how you did that thing where you bounced locked cards."

"Private information."

"Huh?"

"I said, 'private information.' Meaning, that's a secret I'm keeping for the tournament," Skylar replies. It was a lie, but Skylar couldn't even tell someone like Charlotte that he played Bermuda Triangle and the card he used was a stride unit of that clan.

"Well, I'm in the tournament, so does it really matter to keep the secret?" Charlotte retorts as she takes the top card off of Skylar's deck and looks at it. Almost instantly a look of shock accompanied by a massive blush appears on her face.

"H- Hold on there!" Skylar awkwardly mutters, but far too late. Charlotte, in complete shock and disbelief, had run off, and without realizing it, she had run off with the card.

"Oh dear. Oh dear," Skylar says on repeat as he looks through the deck for the card that Charlotte had unintentionally stole. However, immediately afterward, he regrets his action as he turns ghost white.

The missing card was his fourth copy of Ruhuna.

* * *

"So, where's Skylar?" Kyle asks Francisco as the two of them walk down the school parking lot.

"You didn't the message on the group chat?" Francisco replies.

"Phone ran out of battery."

"Isn't it funny how something like that always happens and we have to explain things to each other that we already should have known?"

"I like to think of it as God's providence," Kyle shrugs.

"Anyways, he said something came up and he won't be able to hang out with us today and asked for meeting for be postponed until tomorrow.

"What? What could be so important that he would ask to delay the meeting?"

"Said something about having to replace his 'treasured card.' Not sure what that means."

"'Treasured card?' You mean Ruhuna?"

"Probably. When I asked his only reply was asking me if I could drop by the middle school to tell his sister to go home without him. Or, at least, it was something like that."

"Skylar has a sister?"

"According to what he just posted on the chat, he was three: One in college, one in middle school and the third apparently is apparently a high school freshman here. No brothers though."

While the two talked away their troubles, they completely missed the scene of Serena walking down the road to reach the park at the end of it. After about a solid fifteen minutes, she made it to her destination, where she found a woman who Serena had never seen before. The woman was definitely in her mid-20's, and had straight red shoulder length hair and blue eyes. She wore a white button up with a black suit coat and black slacks, as well as a pair of shiny black shoes.

"You," the woman says as she gazes at Serena. "You are Serena Di Vaio, correct?"

"Yes. Are you Miranda… Miranda… Uhm…"

"Miranda Wright. Now, I'm in a bit of a rush to get some other business done, so can I be upfront here?"

"Uh… Yeah. I guess."

"There's a shop tournament next week in one of this town's three local card shops. I already have Annie helping me out but I need a third member since my other friend refused to. Would you be my third member?"

"Huh!?"

"Ms. Di Vaio, if I act up front, I expect you to do the same and answer promptly, and not with a 'huh.'"

"S- Sorry, I just didn't…"

" _Promptly_ , Di Vaio."

"Sorr- I mean, uhm… Yes. I'll join your team."

"Good. Now, Annie has advised me that your deck would surprise me and I'd rather avoid a shock. What is your clan, Ms. Di Vaio?"

"It's uh, Link Joker, Ms. Wright."

"Link Joker?"

"Yes."

" _Link Joker?_ "

"Y- Yes."

An angered look grows on Miranda's face until at least she screams, "Annie Caroline Carmichael! I'm gonna kill you!"

"Ooh, scary," Annie replies as she sits up from the grass, shocking both Miranda and Serena.

"How long have you been there?" Miranda asks.

"Before you got here."

"And how did I not…"

"Because you were too busy smoking earlier to notice."

"Um, Ms. Carmichael, doesn't school staff need to stay after hours?" Serena points out.

"I lied and said I was sick so I could leave early," Annie yawns.

"Couldn't you get fired for that?" Serena replies.

"Probably."

* * *

Skylar huffed and puffed like the Big Bad Wolf as he biked down the road. The sun had long since set and from the texts she was sending, his mom was pissed. Not that Skylar could have helped it. He spent a few hours searching through the collection of heal triggers that the local card shop had just to find one copy of Ruhuna to replace the one that Charlotte took. Unfortunately, not only had Skylar failed to find one, but the owner, a man named Leonard, could only give Skylar Charlotte's address to help, but Skylar had no interest in ambushing a girl at her house just for a card. For now, all he could do was substitute his Ruhunas with Timor until he found Charlotte again.

The street was long and dark, with the number of streetlights being incredibly small. The houses, even with their lights on, still looked foreboding and alien to Skylar. He was thinking about how unpleasant and uncomfortable this would have been if it was still raining until he began to hear footsteps from just across the corner. He stopped his bike as a man came out who looked over to Skylar and began approaching him.

The man wore a trench coat with khaki pants, brown leather shoes and black gloves and socks. He was definitely in his late 30's or early 40's, but his hair, which reach halfway down his neck and was completely combed back, was still a vibrant brown color and had a weird large blonde streak on the left side. He had this cold, nearly empty look in his hazel eyes, and his large mouth was virtually unmoving. He walked slowly and with his chest pumped out, somehow sending chills down Skylar's spine.

"Hello. My name is W. M. Genie, but you can just call me Mr. Genie."

"Oh. Uhm. Skylar."

"I am aware, Mr. Kaminski."

"Hold on! How did you know my last name!? What do you want?"

"What I want, Mr. Kaminski, is assess a possible risk factor. Everything else was accounted for and figured into the equation until you and your team's leader Kyle appeared, but finding suitable information on Mr. Reeves was not a challenge. Information on you, however, has been insufficient due to possible side effects of a certain incident called Reverse."

"Reverse? What's that supposed to mean?"

"You wouldn't be able to remember since you were caught in it's early stages and were not freed until it's very end, but that's an irrelevant topic, and will, at no point beyond now, ever be relevant. You must be factored into my equation, Mr. Kaminski, and I have determined that there is only one sufficient way to do so," Mr. Genie replies as he holds out a vanguard deck.

"That's a really bad way to challenge someone to a fight, but a really good way to get the cops called on you, Mr. Genie."

"Indeed, but based on your previous behavior patterns, I knew it would be the best way to approach this situation. If I may make one request, Mr. Kaminski, come at me with your Bermuda Triangle deck, regardless of the fact that you're lacking Teacup Fairy, Ruhuna. This will all be pointless otherwise."

"How did you- No, nevermind. Fine, I'll come at you with my Bermuda deck, but I expect this to be the end of our interactions."

"Depending on how this goes, Mr. Kaminski, it _could_ be the end, or it could be the beginning of a very long friendship," Mr. Genie smiles.

From down the street, outside of the attention of Skylar and Mr. Genie, stood an incredibly short girl in a simple pink dress, who stared at them intensely before sighing in frustration.

"So the Wish Master has made contact prematurely. That little son of a… I didn't think that new people would scare him that much," Rachel grumbles. "This has become incredibly awkward."

* * *

 **Probably the shortest chapter posted yet, but that may be because there isn't an actual, full length cardfight in here and those actually take up a vast majority of a chapter's size. Even still, my apologies if you were hoping for a longer chapter.**

 **Avatar card of the day:**

 **Star-vader, Astro-reaper - Grade 2 / POW: 9000**

 **[Auto] RC: [SB1] When this unit's attack hits a vanguard, you may pay the cost. If you do, look at five cards from the top of your deck, search for up to one card with the same card name as a unit on your VC from among them, reveal it to your opponent, put it into your hand, and put the rest on the bottom of your deck in any order.**

 **Avatar card of Serena Di Vaio, who was, as said before, made and submitted by user franciskanneh007, give him a shoutout! He was also the card that made me realize it was Star-vader, and not Star-Vadar. I almost got myself into another Paign and Paing situation. I still regret that so much. One of these days, I swear I will someone I can trust enough to beta-read this.**

 **Anyways, you know the drill: I'm not an aspiring writer. I only do this as a hobby. I'm really studying to be a psychologist. In short, if you have a complaint: Bash. My. Face. In. Seriously, show no mercy for the weak. I'm not gonna realize there's a problem I need to fix until someone whines about it. Make me** _ **cry**_ **, people!**

 **Finally, thanks to everyone who's complemented this, and guess what? I'll probably never stop accepting OCs until we finally reach the end of this (Assuming we even get to the end, that is). If you got an oc you'd like to send in, or even a deck list, just PM it to me. I don't block PMs! And I take multiple OCs from the same people! For example, in addition to those 19 decklists, James95 sent two OCs, and I'll be using them! If you've got a menagerie you'd like me to use, send them in and we'll see what can be done. Later! Love ya'll (Just not in a love love way, y'know? Y'know y'know? Pretty sure y'know.)!**


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